Injustice in harm and loss

The major topics of this overview article are as follow: (i) A distinction is made between justice and deservedness. Suffered harm and loss may be judged undeserved with respect to the victim's prior behavior, prior life, and personality without the implication that a victimizer is identified who acted unjustly. (ii) The perception of injustice is outlined as a subjective construction that has two major components: The subject selects and applies one of several rules or principles of justice applicable to the case and the subject is attributing responsibility to an agent or agency who is not the victim himself or herself. It is argued that in every case there are several options for the selection of a rule of justice and for the attribution of responsibility. (iii) Several so-called risk factors of critical life events as unforeseeability, uncontrollability of events, and nonnormativeness of events are reinterpreted as factors relevant in the subjective construction of injustice. (iv) Several coping strategies reported in the literature on critical life events such as palliative comparisons, self-blame, or search for meaning are interpreted as efforts to avoid feelings of injustice. (v) On the basis of empirical data a closer look is taken on self-blame which, psychologically, is a heterogeneous construct. The effects of self-blame depend on its function: When used strategically as a means to avoid feelings of uncontrollability of one's fate or to reduce feelings of hostility toward a victimizer, it may have adaptive functions. When imposed by the subjective view of the facts it may result in feelings of guilt, shame, or anger about an avoidable mistake, feelings that are not adaptive but rather add to the negative balance caused by the primary loss or harm. (vi) Concerning search for meaning, a distinction is proposed between (a) grasping the meaning in the sense of understanding motives, goals, and reasons of the victimizer and (b) discovering and construing some gains in the consequences of a victimization, gains which may be material, social, experiential, self- and personality-related, or developmental. While finding meaning of the second kind improves the loss-gain balance and tends to reduce the perceived injustice the first kind of grasping meaning may sometimes result in intensifying feelings of injustice, especially when motives, goals, and reasons of the victimizer are considered as selfish, malevolent, or uncaring. The article ends with a discussion of the ambivalence of a victim's status which establishes some entitlements for compensation and care but also bears the risk of secondary victimization by negative social reactions.     

论被害性、犯罪动机与被害预防

被害人的被害性是指在犯罪过程中与犯罪的发生有关的条件中属于被害人的各种条件的总括,被害人被害性成为犯罪人挑选被害人的重要依据,由此可见,被害性对犯罪动机的形成、发展、变化都有着重要影响,研究他们之间的关系有助于更好地了解犯罪动机的发生、发展、变化,从而有针对性地做好被害预防工作。     

SELF‐CONTROL AND VICTIMIZATION: A META‐ANALYSIS

A consequential development in victimization theory and research was the idea that individuals with low self‐control self‐select into the various risky behaviors that may ultimately result in their victimization. To establish the empirical status of the self‐control–victimization link, we subjected this body of work to a meta‐analysis. Our multilevel analyses of 311 effect size estimates drawn from 66 studies (42 independent data sets) indicate that self‐control is a modest yet consistent predictor of victimization. The results also show that the effect of self‐control is significantly stronger when predicting noncontact forms of victimization (e.g., online victimization) and is significantly reduced in studies that control directly for the risky behaviors that are assumed to mediate the self‐control–victimization link. We also note that the studies assessing self‐control and victimization are not representative of victimization research as a whole, with intimate partner violence (IPV), violence against women, and child abuse being severely underrepresented. We conclude that future research should continue to examine the causal processes linking self‐control to victimization, how self‐control shapes victims’ coping responses to their experience, and whether self‐control matters in contexts where individuals may have limited autonomy over the behavioral routines that put them at risk for victimization.     

Intimate partner violence victimization and household financial strain

Most scholars agree that low socio-economic status is associated with an elevated risk for violent victimization as well as offending. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that certain forms of violence—particularly intimate partner violence (IPV)—are more equally distributed in the population, not concentrating on the lower social strata as strongly as other forms of violence. In this paper, we examine the association between financial strain, measured on the household level, and two different types of victimization: IPV and violence committed by a person unknown to the victim. The analysis is based on the 2013 sweep of Finnish National Crime Victim Survey (n = 6,999), a nationally representative survey incorporating a mix of postal and web-based survey methodology. Multivariate analyses indicate that the risk for both kinds of victimization is highest among those who report financial difficulties. Moreover, the association between IPV and financial strain appears stronger when less serious violent incidences are excluded from the analysis.     

犯罪被害人学视阈中的被害性问题研究

传统犯罪学研究遵从＂犯罪中心主义＂,作为犯罪对象的被害人长期未受重视。犯罪人、被害人和犯罪行为是犯罪学的核心要素,绝大部分犯罪中都存在犯罪人和被害人互动的现象,忽视被害人的犯罪学研究进路是片面的,不可能全面揭示犯罪原因及提出科学的犯罪预防对策。犯罪被害人通常在生理、心理、社会或行为等方面存在一些被害性因素,导致自己更容易成为犯罪的侵害对象。通过对这些被害性因素的分析,结合部分常见犯罪的案发特征,提出被害预防的有关思路和对策。     

The Effect of Victim Attitudes and Behaviors on Sexual Assault Victimization Severity: An Examination of University Women

The current study investigates a number of theoretically relevant victim characteristics to determine their impact on sexual assault victimization severity. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey responses from a sample of 204 university women indicated significant relationships between many of the variables of interest and increases in victimization severity. In particular, risk-taking behavior, delayed victim response strategies to sexual risk, increased number of lifetime sexual partners, and more frequent exposure to pornographic media significantly correlated with increasingly more severe forms of sexual assault. Future research directions and policy implications are discussed.     

Converging on Empathy: Perspectives on Baltimore City's Specialized Prostitution Diversion Program

This article explores perceptions of 17 women currently or formerly engaged in prostitution regarding Baltimore City's Specialized Prostitution Diversion program. Findings indicate that most perceive the program positively because they are in desperate need of services and because they hope it augurs the readiness of the criminal justice system to understand what leads them to engage in prostitution. Their desire to be treated like “human beings” in need of assistance, which undergirds requests for concrete services, reveals gendered understandings of responsibility and dependence that are compatible with problem-solving models of justice. It is therefore likely to resonate with criminal justice stakeholders.     

Exposing the conditions of precarity: compounding victimization and marginalized young people

Events of victimization that upend young lives and expose them to conditions of precarity are examined. Drawing on Judith Butler’s recent reflections on precarity, this article contributes to the extant critical victimology literature by linking precarity to selfhood and narrative. Narrative analysis is used to analyze two young people – Beatrice and Randall – who experienced sexual victimization and a number of subsequent victimizations at the hands of corporate and state organizations. To account for these subsequent persecutions, the concept of compounding victimization to expose the link between successive victimization that intensifies the experience of precarity.     

Sexual Orientation and the Effects of Intimate Partner Violence

Studies have demonstrated a relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression and other mental health issues such as suicidal behavior and posttraumatic stress disorder. Despite the breadth of the literature, there is a dearth of information specifically regarding the effects of IPV in same-sex relationships. Information regarding the prevalence of substance abuse and health issues in non-heterosexual IPV victims when compared to heterosexual IPV victims will be extremely helpful in developing tailored victim services to sexual minorities. This study uses the National Violence Against Women Survey to examine hypothesized relationships between IPV, its effects, and sexual orientation. Given the higher prevalence rates of IPV in same-sex relationships (Messinger, 2011 Messinger , A. ( 2011 ). Invisible victims: Same-sex IPV in the National Violence Against Women Survey . Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 26 , 2228 – 2243 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), logistic regression models are used to test the hypotheses that non-heterosexual victims of IPV will have higher rates of depression, substance use, and health issues.     

The Role of Group Identity and Personality Domains as Indicators of Self-Reported Delinquency

We investigated the impact of personality factors and group identity factors on self-reported delinquency among high school students. Respondents were 420 Australian youth with a mean age of 15.22 r yrs. The sample comprised 224 males and 196 females. The strongest predictors of delinquency among both males and females were Eysenck's Psychoticism factor and an identity with so-called "rebels". In addition, Extraversion (males) and low self-reported academic achievement (females) were also found to be important factors. It was further concluded that Psychoticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness have little in common in their prediction of delinquency. The results are discussed with reference to previous research on the role of personality and group identity factors, and some suggestions for future research are also made.