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Victimology theories

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INTRODUCTION

Victimology is the scientific study of the physical, emotional and financial harm people suffer because of illegal activities. Basically, it is the study of crime from the point of view from the victim. Various theories of Victimology exist and each with the aim of explaining why certain people become victims of crime and why others do not. These theories discuss how victims and victimization are major focuses in the study of crime. They all share many of the same assumptions and strengths dealing with crime and its victims. This essay will discuss five theories of victimology such as the Victim Precipitation, Lifestyle exposure, Routine activity, The opportunity model theory and the extended low self-control theory

VICTIM PRECIPITATION

The Victim precipitation theory assumes that victims provoke criminals and that victims trigger criminal acts by their provocative behavior. This theory states the victim initiates the confrontation that might eventually lead to the crime. This is the first systematic study of victim involvement in crime was conducted in the late 1950s by Marvin Wolfgang. The term he introduced, "victim precipitation," became a popular descriptor for all direct contact predatory crime such as murder, assault, forcible rape and robbery. When applied to homicide, victim precipitation is restricted to those cases in which "the victim is the first in the homicide drama to resort to physical force against the subsequent slayer” (Wattanaporn ,2014). A similar definition is used in the case of aggravated assault except that insinuating language or gestures might also be considered provoking actions.

Victim-precipitated robbery involves cases in which the victim has acted without reasonable self-protection in the handling of money, jewelry, or other valuables (Bills,2017). whereas this concept in forcible rape applies to "an episode ending in forced sexual intercourse in which the victim first agreed to sexual relations, or clearly invited them verbally or through gestures, but then retracted before the act. Under each of these definitions, there is an explicit time ordering of events in which victims initiate some type of action that results in their subsequent victimization. In victim precipitation, it can either be passive or active. Passive precipitation can either occur due to personal conflict or when the victim unknowingly threatens or provokes the attacker. Essentially, the victim precipitation theory focuses on the idea that passive precipitation of violence is a result of a power struggle an example is a politician may feel threatened by an activist group leader because his action draws attention to negative aspects of his personality and actions that will or may cause, a power loss in society. This sort of precipitation may also be present when the victim is not even aware of the existence of the attacker. Active precipitation on the other hand occurs when the victim is the first to attack or encourages the criminal by their action, it is the opposite of the afore described. Victimization under this theory occurs through the threatening to provocative actions of the victim. One of the most controversial points of this theory is the idea that most women are raped actively contributed in some way either through a provocative dress, a relationship or suggested consent of intimacy

LIFE-STYLE EXPOSURE THEORY

The theory that is more common is the Lifestyle exposure theory, this theory was developed by Hindelang, Gottfredson and Garofalo in 1978. The formulation of this model was based on data gathered during victimization surveys conducted in eight cities, namely Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Newark, Portland and St. Louis. This theory suggests that all individuals are targeted based on their lifestyle choices and that these lifestyle choices perspective, an individual's lifestyle is the critical factor that determines risks of criminal victimization. Lifestyle is defined in this context as "routine daily activities, both vocational activities such work, school keeping house and leisure activities" (Meier&Miethe,1993).

People's daily activities may naturally bring them into contact with crime, or they merely increase the risk of crime that victims experience. Time spent in one's home generally decreases victim risk, while time spent in public settings increases risks. Victimization risk is increased when people have a high-risk lifestyle. This theory explains victimization patterns in the social structure. Examples of some lifestyle choices indicated by this theory includes going out at night alone, living in bad parts of the town, being promiscuous, excessive alcohol use and doing drugs. Males, young people and the poor have high victimization rates because they have a higher risk lifestyle than females, the elderly and the affluent. Variations in lifestyles are important because they are related to the differential exposure to dangerous places, times, and others-that is, situations in which there are high risks of victimization.

ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY

The next theory is the Routine activity theory. The routine activity approach was developed by Cohen and Marcus in 1979 and proposes that the Routine activity theory consists of three components: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and lack of a capable guardian. The theory proposes that crime is more likely to occur when these three elements converge in time and space. Routine activities are defined as activities that involve leaving the house (Cohen & Felson, 1979). According to this theory the presence of one’s home during vacation creates a suitable target leaving a home for vacation in an urban area creates an even greater risk and leaving one’s home on vacation in an urban area in which there is a high number of teenage boys or known felons or other motivated offenders creates an even higher risk for victimization. Communities with ample police protection, alarms, other security devices and community watch team lower risks by creating guardianship which is noted under this theory to reduce crime rates. This theory has many similarities with the lifestyle-exposure theory, both theories emphasize how patterns of routine activities or lifestyles in conventional society provide an opportunity structure for crime (Harper, 2014)

Each theory also downplays the importance of an offender motivation and other aspects of criminality in understanding individuals' risks of victimization and the social ecology of crime. These theories are also representative of a wider "criminal opportunity" perspective because they stress how the availability of criminal opportunities is determined,

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