Abstract
A child can be victimized for various reasons and it can happen to anyone’s child. Chapter one of the book focuses on child victimology. The author goes into detail and provides an explanation for why some children become victims of crime. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast an Ideal-victim from a non-ideal victim. Secondly, I’ll demonstrate the difference and provide a briefed description of a non- ideal victim.
Keywords: (victimology, ideal-victim, non-ideal victim)
Who is the Ideal -Victim or Non-Ideal Victim?
The term ideal-victim came from the works of Nils Christie and according to him this victim is a person or a category of individuals that when hit by a crime they are given the complete
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They’ re basically victims of people that they already know because of their lifestyle such as frequent visits to the same clubs, the amount of alcohol consumption, and more (Shapiro & Maras, 2015). It is said that this people are victimized because of their demographics, they are bystanders, witnesses, and that a violent person becomes victim of violence (Shapiro & Maras, 2015). Shapiro and Maras (2015) indicated that a non-ideal victim can be due to miscarriages of justice, human trafficking, police brutality, and even victims with prior criminal records (Shapiro & Maras, 2015). Research says that if those individual are accepted as victims then society would be acknowledging that there is something wrong with the Criminal Justice system (Shapiro & Maras, 2015). This would include victims who have been assaulted or rape in prisons, victims of intimate partner relationships, rape, physical trauma, and victims in mental hospitals. One of the differences of the two victims is that the ideal victim is recognize by the criminal justice system and the other is not perceive as worthy or deserving of the status (Shapiro & Maras, 2015). One thing that needs to be further look into are children of domestic violence and their involvement with the criminal justice
Victimology is the scientific study of the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer from illegal activities. A common struggle Victimologists face is determining who the victim is. In general, crimes don 't have an “ideal victim”. The term ideal victims refer to someone who receives the most sympathy from society (Christie, 2016). An example of this would be a hardworking, honest man who on his way to work, had his wallet taken by force. Most people in society would have sympathy for him. He spent his life making an honest living to earn what he has and was a victim of a robbery. Victimologists study the interactions victims have with criminals, society, and the criminal justice system (Karmen, 2015). According to (Karmen, 2015)
Nils Christie’s theory on an idea victim consists of certain category’s that may vary for each victim(Christie (1986). From Christie’s theory it is said that the victim could be an old or young lady that has cared for her elderly sister, and if she has been hit on the head by a big man and he grabs her bag and uses the money for alcohol or drugs(Christie (1986). Attributes that Christie came up with is the victim is weaker than the ‘big and bad’ offender. In regards to the rape victim would be a young virgin on her way home from visiting sick relatives’ (Christie (1986).
Playing the victim in various situations is far from difficult. Victims have a tendency to sit back and watch their life fall to pieces. A victim is someone who blames others that predict defeat and also gives up. For example, in the article, “Do you think like a victim or a creator,” “what the first student had said – “it wasn’t my fault, it was the bookstore’s fault” – was, indeed, true. However, it was not helpful to her cause. At the end of the day, she did not achieve her goal (obtaining the book).” (David Marman) This person pertains to a victim because she gave a false statement that cannot achieve her goal. Being a creator can be tough also but enables you to change the direction in which your life is headed. A creator asks questions pertaining to how to accomplish their goals, which think positively, and look for a better choice. For example, in the article, “Do you think like a victim or a creator,” “the second student did not ask “Whose fault is it I don’t have the book?” but instead asked “What can I do to get the text I need?”. When her first answer did not lead her to her goal, she asked the question again, and again, until she finally achieved her goal.” (David Marman) This person pertained to a creator because she thought of ways to achieve her goal instead of blaming others for the situation. The idea of the creator and victim was coined by Dr. Skip Downing. If you think like a creator, you can succeed in anything. If I think like a creator, I can accomplish my goals of succeeding in college, along with succeeding in life as well.
In the year 2015, approximately 683,000 children became victims of child abuse. Of those 683,000 children, approximately 1,670 children died from child abuse (National Statistics). Child abuse is defined as “when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child” (What is Child Abuse). There are many different kinds of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse. The purpose of this paper is to enlighten the readers to the fact that throughout the story the parents and caregivers abused their children. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette talks about the many memories that she had with her parents, but it is clear that even
...g and filled with detailed solutions for each act of child abuse. The book allows the reader to visual themselves in each situation and knows how to react towards such each incident. It helped me understand why adults abused as children act the way they do when it comes to social interaction. Personally, I have attained new information that I was unaware of. In the beginning, I have always believed that child abuse only involved physical or sexual abuse. I did not know that emotional abuse actually existed. I was unaware of the fact that emotional abuse gravely affects children as they grow up. This book may open up the minds of people who are unaware of or refuse to believe that child abuse is occurring daily in our society because it is so informative and persuasive at the same time. If one needs to educate themselves concerning child abuse, consider this book.
Elias, R. (1986). Rising Stars: Victims and Victimology. The Politics of Victimization: Victims, Victimology and Human Rights. New York. Oxford University Press, 9-26.
When the victim does not fit the ideal victim attributes which society has familiarised themselves with, it can cause complications and confusion. Experts have noticed there is already a significant presence of victim blaming, especially for cases involving both genders. The fear of being blamed and rejected by the public is prominent in all victims. Victim blaming proclaims the victim also played a role in the crime by allowing the crime to occur through their actions (Kilmartin and Allison, 2017, p.21). Agarin (2014, p.173) underlines the problem of victim blaming is due to the mass of social problems and misconceptions within society. The offender can have “an edge in court of public opinion” if victim blaming exists, resulting in the prevention of the case accomplishing an effective deduction in court (Humphries, 2009, p.27). Thus, victims will become more reluctant to report offences because of their decrease in trust in the police and criminal justice system, leading to the dark figure of
Psychological maltreatment, like many other forms of abuse can also be passed down through intergenerational transmission. It is not unlikely for parents to psychologically mistreat their children due to their own past or childhood experiences with psychologically abuse. For example, it is not uncommon during the course of an investigation of physiological maltreatment that it is discovered that the perpetrator had their own form of abuse history in the past. Often time’s people look at psychological maltreatment as a consequence resulting from some other form of abuse, mainly physical and sexual, but tend to overlook the fact that it may also occur as an individual form. Psychological maltreatment can take more than one form. During the course of researching for this paper I learned that there are three typical forms of behavior in which people follow when displaying this type of abuse against children. The three types are acting in an aggressive, rejecting, and lessening
A victim is someone who has been harmed whether its physically, mentally, or emotionally, sometimes even all three. A victim is someone who has had a crime committed against them. Whether it’s something nonviolent like theft of identity or very violent like rape or murder. Victimization doesn’t always stop after the crime has been solved and the offender has been punished. The mentality of a victim can drastically change for the rest of their lives. Whether it’s being scared to walk alone or waking up screaming in the night due to Post Traumatic Stress disorder. In order to help monitor crime we do have the National Crime Victimization Survey or NCVS. Which is information and statistics reported annually based on a sample. It shows characteristics of crimes, the frequencies of crimes, consequences of victimization, whether the crime was reported to the police or not, and the victims experience with the justice system. The report also shows victims
Generally, the study of crime mainly focused on the offender until quite recently. In fact, Shapland et al (1985) described the victim as ‘the forgotten man’ of the criminal justice system and ‘the non-person in the eyes of the professional participants’. A new perspective was brought with victimology, an expanding sub-discipline of crimin...
These numbers demand the public’s attention. The pain of just one child should be more than enough to cause a person to jump up and help, much less the pain of more than six thousand children. The U.S. Department of Justice calls children the “perfect victim” for six major reasons. Firstly, since children are typically not emotionally or physically mature, they will try to avoid talking about the abuse. The second reason that they provide is that often times the child does not want to betray the person who is abusing them due to the fact that, many times, the abuser is someone close to them or even related to them. Thirdly, many times there is not enough medical evidence or reliable eye witness accounts for the police to persecute a sexual predator. Unfortunately, the child’s testimony is easy for most any defense attorney to strike down. Two more reas...
Understanding the theories of victimology is important to understand the victims, we need to understand the four main theories of victimization. These theories are the principals of victim assessment. It will give the officer the tools to understand the motive behind the victimization giving him different types of views to analyze the victim. The four main theories of victimization are: Victim Precipitation, Lifestyle, Deviant Place, and Routine Activity. These four theories according to victimology give us the idea of how the victim become to be a victim. The word Victimization meanings “an act that exploits or victimizes someone” and “adversity resulting from being made a victim” (Vocabulary.com. Dictionary Victimization (2017)). By understanding the victim and the influences of their social life is important so we can give the victim the treatment and
The effects of child abuse are multiple. The pain and trauma the abused child goes through is just a small part of how this cauldron of hidden depravity in our society affects all of us. Wrecked lives can be seen in persons of all ages and in all walks of life. Society as a whole is also effected by child abuse both in negative and positive ways. In this essay I will present some of the factor and results of this violent behavior on individuals as well as our culture.
Victim precipitation refers to the role or responsibility that a victim has in their own victimization. In the first generation of victimization theories and victimologist the idea of victim precipitation was studied and thought to be a piece of the whole picture of a crime committed. As time progressed it was not thought to be as much as a factor.
Every individual breathing in this world is generally assumed and anticipated to experience a childhood filled with joy, laughter, and smiles. However, pain, tears, and silence are the memoirs of some children due to child abuse. Child abuse is an issue that has become an epidemic, developing into children’s most unwelcomed nightmares that haunts them on a daily basis. Child victims of abuse can consider the cruel acts being done to them as their preeminent complication of their lives causing them to become unstable. These children tend to lose control over their own lives, bodies, and minds creating catastrophic obstacles to build up in their lives and causing themselves to become weakened and vulnerable due to being confronted by fear that they cannot endure. The many lives of abused children are misguided as they mature because the events that they encounter during their early childhood years influence the construction of their future and behaviors. Child abuse is the barbarous act of maltreatment directed towards children that includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual molestation which all serve as elements towards leading to the destruction of their lives.