Victimology

Victims of Crime

This course examines those issues in the criminal justice system which directly pertain to the system's interaction with victims. It examines how people become victims, and how the criminal justice system and related agencies deal with these people once that victim status is identified.
Dr. Michael Thompson

Victimology

Chapter 1
The Victims of Crime: An Overview
By: Becca and Tonya

The study of crime victims, the reasons for their victimization, and the analysis of how they are treated by society, specifically by the criminal justice system, is known as VICTIMOLOGY! While the most visible victimization is from street crime (such as murder, rape, armed robbery, or theft), white-collar, political, environmental, organized, and corporate criminally cost society as much financially, if not more (Moore and Mills, 1990). The media loves to report celebrity murder or victimization, but in reality, victimization happens to everyday, average people.

What is a crime victim? A CRIME VICTIM is anyone who is injured (harmed) or killed due to a violation of the criminal law. The crime victims most visible to the public in the criminal justice system are single victims of violent crime or groups, such as victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Victims of crime can be directly or indirectly victimized, in their homes or outside of them, by strangers or people they know, at any time- day or night. Crime victims don't choose to be victims the way their offenders may choose to become criminals. However, they suffer, maybe for the rest of their lives, the effects of the violence and harm committed up on them. In an effort to better understand victims of crime and the differing effects of victimization, a description of crime victims' role in the criminal justice process is necessary. The term VICTIM OF CRIME is also used to describe a survivor of criminal victimization. While victims of homicides do not specifically fit this categorization , their families, loved ones, and associates do.

Typology and Definitions of Victim Responsibility
No Victim Responsibility

• Unrelated Victims

- are victims of crimes committed by strangers (considered street crime). Example: Getting mugged in the city.

• Biologically Weak Victims

- are those who are victimized because they make easy targets due to certain physical or mental characteristics (elderly, disabled, and children). Example: Abuse of the elderly in convalescent homes and cases of child abuse.

• Socially Weak Victims

- do not understand the customs of society, so they make tempting targets (immigrants, tourists, and minorities). Example: Economic criminal victimization of illegal immigrants who are afraid to go to the authorities.

• Political Victims

- are those who suffer at the hands of political opposition and are trapped by political situations (war protesters, demonstrators) Example: Being arrested for speaking out against war.
Some Victim Responsibility

• Provocative Victims

- have done something to provoke a victimization. Example: A man who sleeps with another Man's wife and is assaulted as a result.

• Precipitative Victims

- are those who tempt fate and seem to ask for a crime to happen. Example: A person walking alone at night in the wrong end of town.
Total Victim Responsibility

• Self-Victimizing

- people who victimize themselves. Example: Drug abusers, alcoholics, and gamblers

Works Cited:
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

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Chapter 3: Crime Prevention
By: Ryan Baalmann and Dustin Hillebrand

In history it has been found in the criminal justice system and society that it is more reactive rather than proactive. From 1965 to 2001, the criminal justice system has done many things such as making the department of justice in charge of local crime prevention, LEAA began funding local crime prevention programs, and 3 Billion dollars was annually given to different crime prevention programs in the 1990s. To present day when the government began focusing on prevention of future terrorists’ attacks after devastating day of September 11, 2001.

The American society and criminal justice system is reducing and eliminating opportunities and factors for habitual offenders and now focusing on the potential victims and the offenders, rather than just focusing on offenders. We are attempting to confine criminal behavior where it occurs, by finding middle grounds and looking to minimize the seriousness of criminal activity. Victims are just as important as the offender.

The criminal justice system is working harder to make the laws known. We are making the punishments of crimes committed outweigh all the benefits that can come from doing them in the first place. Deterrence includes specific deterrence as well as general deterrence. Elements of deterrence are: certainty, severity and celerity.

To reduce crime a few directions we are headed in, is examining the biological, social and psychological factors included in committing the crimes. Individual and external factors do play a role. We are working to take potential offenders and actual offenders either out of their environment, or fix their environment all together.

They are looking for reduction in the opportunity to be victimized, as well as reducing the vulnerability to victimization. There are three Societal Preventions. Primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention inoculates potential victims and potential offenders. Secondary prevention identifies potential offenders, and eliminates criminogenic factors, and Tertiary prevention which isolates offenders from society, which exercises our prison system.

Going farther into the three concepts; Primary prevention is focused on eliminating or modifying the opportunity for criminal acts to occur in situational crime prevention. Primary prevention stresses using the law. The crime prevention through the environmental design is based on territoriality, natural surveillance, image and milieu. It goes for Target Hardening and neighborhood watch, D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), and elimination of corporal punishment.

The D.A.R.E program is a great example of the primary prevention concept. It has grown dramatically since it was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles, California. It is a highly acclaimed program that gives children the skills they need, to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence. It is designed to teach and help kids from kindergarten through 12th grade about the peer pressure problem in today’s youth. It has been almost always taught by a police officer in a class room setting. (http://www.dare.com/home/about_dare.asp)

Secondary Prevention involves attacking known factors that contribute to crime and victimization. They focus on At-Risk children, diversion programs and programs for children in domestic violence homes.

The third and last prevention is Tertiary Prevention, which focuses on known criminals. Tertiary Prevention has the belief that repeat offenders will continue to offend and should be isolated from the society. They involve the three-strike laws, restitution programs, electronic monitoring and Megan’s law.

Megan’s law is the informal name for different laws that require law enforcement in the United States to make information available to communities about registered sex offenders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan's_Law)

There are seven main programs in the family-based programs, which involve your home, preschool, school, clinics, hospitals, courts, and battered women’s shelters.Police-based Crime programs include crime prevention strategies and “what’s promising”.

Works Cited:
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

Victims and the System

Chapter 4: Crime Victims and the Law Enforcement
By: Ryan Baalmann and Dustin Hillebrand

Introduction
A police officer goes by the motto “to protect and serve.” Many people rely on law enforcement to hold up this motto and look to the police to prevent crimes from happening, catch the perpetrator, and to have closure. We expect them to do everything possible and bring justice. Many people deal with the events that just happen to them differently and how the first responders treat the victims can determine how the victim will look at the justice system as a whole. Police should keep the golden rule in mind. Treat the victims how you would want to be treated in that situation.

Police Investigations of Crimes
Police are the first to respond to cry for help by a victim. Police want to get in and get out as fast as they can. They want the information and they want it now but that might not always be the way it will play out. Depending on the crime the victim may be emotionally unstable or traumatized by the series of events that took place. There is a list of 11 recommendations from the National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) that the officer can use in order to comfort the victim and get the information they need for the investigation. They are as follows:
1.The officer should show a calm, objective manner.
2.The officer should have an air of authority—knowing what to do.
3.The officer should express concern and understanding for what the victim is feeling.
4.The officer should encourage the victim to talk in his or her own way.
5.The officer should show a non-judgmental attitude.
6.The officer should explain the circumstances to the family member or friend if necessary.
7.The officer should explain what he or she and his colleagues are doing and what the victim can expect to happen in the future.
8.The officer should usually conduct the initial interview alone if possible.
9.The officer should make no promises he can’t keep.
10.The officer should thank the victim for this trouble.
11.The officer should offer crime-prevention in assistance in the future.

Importance of Crime Victims for Law Enforcement
The police need crime victims in order to get information and evidence from the crime so they can make an arrest. However, only half of all crimes are reported to the police. Reasons for this are victims feel it is a private matter, fear of revictimization, they feel that the police can’t do anything anyhow, distrust in police, the crime wasn’t serious enough, not wanting to get involved in the criminal justice system, embarrassment, and the feeling that it was partly their fault.

Meeting the needs of crime victims during the response and investigative stages increases the potential cooperation with law enforcement. Not only could a positive response to the victims’ needs by law enforcement help in current cases, but also it would likely encourage assistance in future cases.

Conclusion
It is important that the victim of the crime be taken care of and respected. Federal, State and Local agencies need to provide the victim with services immediately after the crime. This can go a long way in toward helping the victim recover from the incident. Providing these programs to local agencies and letting victims know about them is important as well.
Making police understand the importance of their roles as first responders and providing them with the training and resources to be as effective as possible will benefit both the law enforcement and crime victims.

Works Cited:
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

Interpersonal Victimization

Chapter 7 Sexual Victimization
By: Bev Johnson, Em Walz, Chris Leth

Rape and sexual assault are often used interchangeably. The conservative term is rape. For example this is carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will by a male. (Carnal Knowledge is penile-vaginal penetration).

Today we use a more liberal, all-encompassing term; sexual assault. The definition has been expanded to read “penile-vaginal penetration to include other forms of intercourse, including oral and anal sodomy and penetration by fingers or objects other than the penis”. Sexual assault is also defined as any unwanted (not consented to) sexual activity. This includes fondling, oral, anal, and vaginal intercourse, and any other unwanted sexual activity.

Many of the rape myths you hear about today are just that; myths. But what is a rape myth? A rape myth is a belief or attitude about a rape victim or a rapist that is generally false but which many in the public believe to be true. Susan Brownmiller attributes most of society’s beliefs about rape to the traditional sex roles of men and women. By holding only these beliefs it is believed that “women wanted to be raped or deserved it or asked for it”.

Some other rape myths include:
-Rapists look the part.
-Rape is an impulsive act.
-Rape is a victim-precipitated kind.
-Rapists are insane sexual psychopaths.
-Only a few careless women are raped.
-Only promiscuous women or women with bad reputations are raped.
-Women scream “rape” as vengeance or to protect their reputations.

Although you hear about more women being raped, both men and women can be the victim of a sexual assault. Rapist typology is created by information that is collected by victims and offenders and statistics show that rape is a way to satisfy the need for control or power over the victim by the offender.

There are four types of rape:
Stranger rape is the easiest to define and best understood. It occurs when a woman is raped by someone she does not know. There is no prior relationship, but there are 3 subcategories. The first is a blitz sexual assault, where the perpetrator rapidly and brutally assaults the victim with no prior contact. It usually occurs at night in a public place. The second is a contact sexual assault, where the suspect contacts the victim and tries to gain her/his trust and confidence before the assault happens. These occur when the contact perpetrator picks the victim in a bar, lure them into the car, or otherwise try to coerce the victim into a sexual assault situation. The third and final subcategory is home invasion sexual assault. This occurs when a stranger breaks into the victim’s home to commit the assault.

Acquaintance rape is a term applied when a rape occurs between a victim and an offender who know each other. They may have a casual relationship or be more familiar. This includes, friends, lovers, spouses, or someone you may have just met.
Date rape happens when two people are out on a date and sexual victimization occurs.
Marital rape happens to married couples. This is when one partner forces the other to perform sexual acts against their will.

So how do you know what to look for? Rapists have been put into categories, focusing on behavior. These categories include:
-Power assertive rapists enjoy maintaining control and dominance over their victims. The rape itself is a manifestation of their supremacy; rape is viewed as an entitlement or a way to keep their women in line.
-Power reassurance rapists who doubt their sexual competence and capability. They often question their own masculinity. They rape helpless women that cannot reject them to increase their self esteem and build their own sense of adequacy.
-Anger retaliation rapists commit rape out of rage or resentment towards women and try to shame or humiliate them.
-Anger excitation rapists actually enjoy the brutal suffering they inflict on the rape victim while trying to inflict the most pain, agony and torment possible.

So we know the categories and typologies, but what about rape in correspondence to schools? Is it really safe? Statistically yes and no. Preventative measures may be made and self defense classes are offered, but women are usually not as strong as men, so they need to be extra cautious, especially on college campuses, where they may be stalked or even be the victim of an acquaintance rape (even though it is not exclusive to college campuses). In fact, a large percentage of female students disclosed that they were sexually harassed at some point during college and most assaults unfortunately occur in dorm rooms behind closed doors.

Women (and men) should learn to recognize suspicious behaviors and be alert. They should also know what to do if a sexual victimization situation occurs. Some ways to react when confronted include:
-Stay calm and be assertive
-Appraise the situation/Act accordingly
-Try to get away
-Yell (don’t scream) for help
-If you have to, attack forcibly and viciously
-Buy yourself time by talking
-Destroy his idea of the “seduction” quickly (this would include for example: telling a man you have a sexually transmitted disease, are pregnant or are on your period)

If you are the victim of a sexual assault, there are programs such as SANE/SART that can help you by providing an abundance of services starting at a sexual examination by a nurse, to the end goal of increasing the chances of charges being filed against the offender.

Works cited
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

Internet Resources (various)

Chapter 8 Intimate Partner Violence
By: Em Walz, Bev Johnson and Chris Leth

Intimate partner violence is a term used to cover many different types of violence ranging from spousal abuse, domestic partner violence, wife beating/wife assault and marital violence. An intimate relationship exists between the victim and the offender, even if they aren’t married or don’t live together. Intimate partner violence (or IPV) is violence against an individual by a current or former spouse, cohabitant or intimate partner. It is supposed to be a gender neutral term that also applies to same sex couples, but the majority of victims are women who are also more likely to encounter a greater amount of harm as they are generally the victim of IPV.

In the past, we as a society have viewed intimate partner violence as a “private matter” that should be kept private and inside the home. Today, it is one of the most frequent types of abuse or victimization and is still viewed as a “hidden issue”. Because it is an issue that remains hidden, the information or data we have now has been collected by three main sources including clinical samples, official report data, and social surveys. Often the number is lower because abuse is not reported to the police for many reasons, but mainly out of embarrassment and the fear of what will happen next time.

According to the Women’s Rural Advocacy Program, there are 4 types of abuse:
-Physical abuse includes pushing, shoving, slapping, hitting with fist, kicking, choking, grabbing, pinching, pulling hair or threatening the victim with a weapon.
-Sexual abuse includes forced sex with the threat of violence, sex after violence has occurred, or the use of objects or damaging acts without the woman’s consent.
-Psychological/Emotional abuse occurs the most and includes brainwashing, control of the woman’s freedom to come and go when she chooses, isolation, humiliation or degradation, jealousy or possession, economic deprivation, emotional withholding. and a sense of male privilege. This abuse is facilitated by male privilege and forced feelings of minimization or denial. Physical/Emotional abuse can lead to further problems that are often more serious.
-Destructive abuse includes the purposeful destruction of property or pets.

There are also common risk factors (in no specific order) associated with Domestic Violence and Spousal Abuse including:
-Control issues
-Stress
-Lack of respect for women
-Abuse of alcohol or drugs
-Growing up in a violent home
-Money problems/issues
-Low self-worth or self-confidence in the man or woman
-Psychological issues such as instability or mental defect
-Poor communication between partners
-Marriage that is failing or in trouble/ Couple is separated
-Jealousy
-Suspicious or envious behavior
-Violence is a viable solution to problems

There are theories that try to explain Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
-The General Systems Theory views violence as a “system product rather than the results of individual pathology”
-The Resource Theory assumes that all social systems rest to some degree on force or the threat of force. Force is a resource and the more resources equal more force.
-The Exchange/Social Control Theory is the belief that intimate partner violence is the result of losses and rewards and this correlates to the level of violence.
-The Subculture of Violence Theory asserts that certain values and cultural rules of a subculture even require violence.
-The Feminist Perspective maintains that the reason for spousal abuse is found in the structure of society.
-Learned Helplessness refers to 3 interlocked concepts. First, the environment being out of control. Second, the response is giving up. Third, the accompanying cognition that no voluntary action can control the outcome.
(This includes battered women’s syndrome.)

Another important thing to remember is that men can be victims too. While men are more likely to be the abuser and women are more likely to be victims, there are some women who can be violent or abusive towards their intimate partner.

The more violent side of abuse is called spousal or domestic homicide. In fact, in 2005 there was 1,181 females and 329 males that died at the hands of their intimate partner. There are seven warning signs to look for to help prevent domestic homicide including:
-The couple isn’t living together/is temporarily or permanently separated.
-There is a history of domestic violence.
-There is a history of controlling or jealous behavior.
-The male partner is suicidal or has threatened to killed others.
-The male partner exhibit’s a sense of despair or hopelessness.
-The male has a problem with drugs or alcohol.
-The male stalks or harasses his partner.

There are 5 ways to eliminate Intimate Partner Violence:
-Know what is meant by IPV by educating yourself and knowing what to look for.
-Develop a safe plan or an escape route to ensure survival.
-Call 911 without second-guessing yourself.
-Exercise your legal rights by getting a court order for protection or press charges on the offender.
-Victoms advocacy groups can help you to get proper counseling and stop the violence through legal services.

There are three types of stalkers. They include domestic violence stalkers, erotomania/delusional stalkers and nuisance stalkers. A domestic violence stalker seeks control and may want to reestablish a relationship. An erotomania/delusional stalker is someone who is fixated on an individual or celebrity. Finally a nuisance stalker is someone who harasses the victim because they perceive they were offended by the victim in some way.

Today we live in a world of technology where we put information on a website where almost anyone can look at it and gather information. The term cyber stalking is applied to those who send threats via email, instant message or chat. It also includes impersonation, accessing personal information or using tracking software to monitor the actions of the victim.

The most important thing to remember is that Intimate Partner Violence is a cycle. Lenore Walker established the Walker Cycle Theory of Violence. The first phase includes tension building between the offender and victim. Second, there is an acute battering incident that may be verbal, physical or sexual. Third, there is what is known as the “honeymoon phase” because the offender apologizes, justifies their behavior and blames the victim for the offense. The victim usually forgives the offender and the “cycle” continues, resulting in most women staying with an abusive partner. They stay for various reasons, including dependence, traumatic bonding, lack of financial resources/social support, traditional views of marriage/relationships, fear of the unknown and a normalization of violence.

In conclusion, Intimate Partner Violence is a major problem since it is not a public topic that victims openly talk about. By knowing the risk factors and what to do if it happens, IPV can be prevented and today it doesn’t have to stay a dirty little secret any longer.

Works cited:

Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

Internet Resource/Daniel Blake Presentation

Children As Victims
By: Chris, Bev and Emily

Child abuse by definition is the non-accidental physical and/or emotional harm to a child either through direct action or neglect.
In many societies children were viewed as property. Parents were allowed to sell their children. Many children were also farmed out as labors. Punishment was also very harsh in many homes. The belief was to beat the evil actions out of the child. That is where the saying “spare the rod, spoil the child” comes from.

Child abuse has been noted in many cultures but was not viewed as a problem. In the US child welfare agencies are traced back to 1875. The case of Mary Ellen Wilson was a child that did not live with her parents and her guardian beat her and she was not fed in a proper manner. At this point and time there were no laws to protect her from this abuse. She was lucky there was a social worker who pleaded with a judge to allow Mary to live with her. Mary’s case was also very instrumental in the development of child welfare agencies. In the late 1960’s the views on child abuse became a political scene due to the medical profession identifying battered child syndrome. In 1974 The
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act were passed.

There are many forms of victimization and maltreatment. Physical abuse is one of these forms. Physical abuse is the non accidental injury inflicted by a caregiver. This is the most visual of the abuses. If a child has bruises that are not the normal of kids there age and for their type of activities. Burns, lacerations, abrasions and broken bones are also very visual signs. Skeletal, head and internal injuries are not as visual but still have signs of their own. Infants are not spared from abuse. Head trauma is the number one form abuse. This can be cause by direct blows to the head, being thrown or dropped or by shaking them. Shaken Baby Syndrome is the majority of incidents in children under the age of 1. Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy is also a lesser form of physical abuse. The parent or care giver has the children at the DR all the time on false illnesses. They can also do things to make the child show symptoms of an illness. The parents do this to be center of attention while trying to figure out just what is wrong with their child. The reason this is viewed as abuse is the kids are submitted to many painful test to figure out what is wrong with them.

Neglect is another form of child maltreatment. Neglect is an act of omission often related to the failure of a caregiver to provide basic necessities to a child. There are 4 categories of these. Physical neglect: This is not meeting the child’s basic physical needs. Medical neglect: This is when the child is not taken to the Dr or dentist for their basic medical needs. Educational neglect: when a parent does not have their children attend school. This form of neglect can also be when I child is in school but a parent does not care if they skip school or if the child’s grades are passing. Emotional neglect: This is when the child’s emotional needs are not met. The most form is abandonment. A child is left by their parent or care giver and has no intentions of coming back for them.
Sexual abuse involves an adult, either family member or another adult, which use a child for sexual gratification. This includes intercourse, masturbation, hand-genital or oral-genital contact, sexual fondling, exhibition, pornography, voyeurism or sexual propositioning.

Recognizing signs of child abuse is very important. A side from the physical signs it is important to know the behavioral signs. A child can have sudden changes in how they act. They also may not receive proper medical care for any injuries they may have. They can also always expect the worst to happen to them. Signs that a parent is abusing s child could be they show little worries or care for the child. They see their child as troublesome. The parent also depends on the child to comfort and care for them. Signs a parent and child can express when seen together is the fact they do not care to be around each other and show no affection towards each other. They will also show signs that they do not like each other and the relationship is a very negative one and not a positive one. There is very little or if any bonding between the two.

The statistics of child abuse is hard to estimate due to limited knowledge found in official resources. In 1997 Kilpatrick and Saunders did a comprehensive study and found that 1.8 million children were victims of serious sexual abuse and 3.9 million were victims of serious physical assaults. In 2004 estimates state there have been 872,000 cases of child abuse or neglect. In 2006 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reported 50,000 maltreatment referrals weekly.
There are other forms of abuse. Sibling abuse, valance and bulling in the schools and now the internet are being used as a tool to abuse children. There are programs to help children who have been abused. Getting them to reach out to these places is the key to their having a happy healthy life.
(Sources: The Victims Of Crime by Robert A. Jerin and Laura J. Moriarty and Stock Photography and Stock Footage)

Chapter 10: Victimization of the Elderly
By: Kali Brester, Autumn Preston, Peggy Nichols

As the population continues to age, with individual life expectancies being longer than any period in history, it is our collective responsibility to care for elders. Up to 2 million elderly adults are thought to be mistreated each year. Some view elderly victimization as two mutually exclusive categories of behavior including abuse, neglect, and criminal victimization.

Type of Abuse:

Physical Abuse- Being hit, beaten, slapped, bruised, cut, sexually assaulted, burned, physically restrained, or drugged by a care- taker.
Psychological Abuse/ Mistreatment- The abused person being ridiculed, manipulated, insulted, frightened, shamed, called names, humiliated, or treated like a child.
Medical Abuse- The withholding of, or careless administration of, drugs.
Financial Abuse/ Material Abuse- The inappropriate and illegal exploitation of an elderly person’s resources including the misuse of property or money, theft, forced entry into a nursing home, financial dependence, and exploitation.
Social and Environmental Abuse- The deprivation of human services, involuntary isolation, and financial abuse. Such abuse would include denying an elderly person access to his or her social security check, keeping a person house-bound because all access to transportation is cut off, or living in hazardous living conditions.

Type of Neglect:

Passive Neglect- Refers to an elderly person being left alone, isolated, or forgotten.
Active Neglect- Involves withholding items that are necessary for daily living (food, medicine, companionship, bathing), withholding life resources, and not providing care for a physical dependent person.
Self- Neglect- Involves an elderly person not taking care of him- or herself. (It) manifests itself in an older person as a refusal or failure to provide himself/ herself with adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, personal hygiene, medication (when needed), and safety precautions.
“ Based on the input of these groups, the following definition of elder abuse: ‘ any criminal, physical, or emotional harm or unethical taking advantage that negatively affects the physical, financial, or general well being of an elderly person”

Payne and Cikovic (1995) reported on the amount of elderly victimization based on official reports. Approximately 1 to 2 million victimization is reported yearly, and such abuse occurs in all types of settings. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) is a national clearinghouse that provides statistics about elderly abuse. The NCEA serves as a national resource for elder rights advocates, law enforcement and legal professionals, public policy leaders, researchers, and citizens. It is the mission of the NCEA to promote understanding knowledge-sharing, and action on elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

Theoretical Explanations of Elder Abuse:

A perspective stemming from psychology is Psychosocial. Abuse is attributed to some personality/ mental disorder in either the victim or the perpetrator. The 10 most recognized personality disorders include Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal, Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive- Compulsive. The psychoanalysis perspective says that illness causes abuse. Social learning theory proposes that abusive behavior is learned. Meaning that, violence is passed along from generation to generation, learned by observing adult behavior. Those who abuse the elderly may have been abused themselves. The social exchange theory examines dependency in the relationship between the caregiver and the elderly person. This theory relies on money, time, love, respect, knowledge, and power.

Other types of theories include:
•Conflict theory
•Symbolic interactionism
•Role theory
•Situational theory
•Functionalism

The elderly are the fastest growing age group in the United States, and needs to be protected from all types of victimization. Behaviors from the victimization of elderly include physical abuse, material abuse, psychological abuse, psychological mistreatment, medical abuse, financial abuse, social and environmental abuse, passive neglect, active neglect, self- neglect. This should be a more of a concern in the world than it is now.

Work Cited:
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

Stranger Victimization

Chapter 11: Economic Victimizations
Peggy Nichols, Kali Brester and Autumn Preston

Introduction

“Let the buyer beware” make it the individual’s responsibility to know what they were getting into when they entered into business deals. People who lost money to “scam artists” were considered responsible for their own victimization due to greediness. Society thought very little of people who, they believed, were ripped off because of their own greed. These were not real crime victims; it was their own faultfor getting swindled. Economic victimization is rarely studied because most the focus is on street crime. 1940 was the first time the term “white collar crime” was heard of, it was said that crime is not only limited to street life but can also be found in the behavior of businesses, corporations, and professionals. 


Types of Economic Victimizations

Economic victimization: A wide range of victimizations. Economic victimization can include the loss of retirement savings because of corporate fraud or the ruination of someone’s credit rating due to identity theft. Families may lose their homes in confidence games. Businesses may go bankrupt, tax monies may be wasted, and the environment may suffer permanent damage. The elderly, or anyone for that matter, may lose substantial amounts of money due to telemarketing schemes.

Telemarketing fraud: fraudulent selling conducted over the phone. It most often targets the poor and elderly.
Corporate Fraud: fraud committed by large organizations, rather than individuals.
Consumer Fraud: Consumer fraud encompasses a wide range of fraudulent and deceptive practices in the advertising, marketing, sale, or provision of goods or services. Consumer fraud occurs when a product or service does not perform in the manner in which it was advertised or represented to perform. It may also take place when a company overcharges or charges consumers improperly for a product or service, or conceals hidden charges.
Identity theft: When someone uses personal information without the victims knowledge to commit fraud or a crime.
•Identity theft prevention: Firewalls on your computers, shredding utility bills and other personal information stops thieves from retrieving it from the trash. Also just paying attention to your wallet when out in public, and watching how much personal info you put on the internet.

Auction fraud: involves the misrepresentation of a product advertised for a sale or the non delivery of products purchased through an internet auction site. Auction sites include sited like ebay and overstock.
Spam: Unsolicited bulk email.

Conclusion:

Economic victimization is major problem faceing victims, the criminal justice system, the regulatory agencies, and society. The harm caused by economic victimization is immeasurable in terms of dollars, livelihoods, emotional harm, and societal impact. Economic victimizations can take place on an individual level such as when home owners are caught up in a home repair scam. Economic victimizations can impact groups such as investors who are lured into investment schemes where all of their investments may be lost. Economic victimization can also do immeasurable damage to our nation’s economy as well as occurred with the savings and loan frauds. There are so many intangibles when trying to understand the impact economic crimes have on people. Enforcement is most left up to regulatory agencies in the case of corporate criminality, and the likelihood of obtaining justice for individual frauds is almost nonexistent. In many ways, the old notion of “buyer beware” is still very present today.

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Chapter 12: Hate Crimes and Special Populations
By: Autumn Preston, Kali Brester and Peggy Nichols

Hate is defined as a feeling of extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward someone. As defined crime is criminal activity and those engaged in it. Hate crimes are crimes that are directed at specific groups because of an identifiable characteristic. The term hate crime was coined by three U.S. Representatives, John Conyers, Barbara Kennelly and Mario Biaggi. In the U.S. House of Representatives they cosponsored a bill titled “Hate Crime Statistics Act.” Hate crimes can be conceptualized in a variety of ways. What is perhaps most difficult is proving that a crime is indeed a hate crime and that hate crime or the ensuing cause, prejudice, can be eradicated with criminal law.

Hate crime might seem like an easy word to define, there are many consensuses on the definition of this term. According to Richard Berk he marks a good starting point by defining hate crime as “an illegal act [which] is perpetrated because of what a victim represents. Examples of the different statuses are:

1. Racial groups
2. Ethnic Groups
3. Nationalities
4. Sexual orientation
5. Gender

Researchers McDevitt, Levin, and Bennett state that, “In the most horrendous of cases, bias intent may be obvious; in less severe incidents, however, detecting and identifying bias motivation becomes more complex and often goes undocumented.” At a scene of a crime there is always some type of sign that imply it was motivated by hate. A list of these signs would include:

• Distasteful or insulting jokes.
• Vandalizing
• Similar acts against others in the same group.
• Belittling victims’ groups while praising offenders groups.
• Pamphlets, brochures, or fliers found at scene describing the groups (e.g., KKK propaganda).

Why is hate crime legislation needed? Hate crimes represent a special case because of their more serious impact on both the crime victim and the larger group to which she or he belongs according the Herek, Gillis, and Cogan. There are two sets of victims:

1. Individual or individuals who were attacked based on their identification.
2. Larger group in general.

Each year the FBI releases information report about the statistics of hate crime from various law enforcement agencies. The NIJ special report Hate Crimes Reported by Victims and Police revels a great deal of information about hate crimes. Here are some interesting facts:

• Most hate crimes are violent crimes, with a smaller percentage being property crimes.
• Thirty-three percent of the crimes are major violent crimes where a weapon was used.
• NCVS reports about three percent of the reported violent crime to be hate crime.
• Offenders are more likely to be men, strangers to the victims, and operating alone.

Hate crime offenders are categorized into four offender type:
1.Thrill—offenders who commit their crimes for excitement.
2.Defensive—offenders who saw themselves as defending their turf.
3.Retaliatory—offenders are inspired by a desire to avenge a perceived degradation or assault on their group.
4.Mission—offenders whose life’s mission had become to rid the world of groups they considered to be evil or inferior.

People sometimes get treated different cause of the fact they are gays or lesbians. During the stage of adolescence, questioning one’s sexuality can be disconcerting, even if the doubts being experienced are normal. Young males, who are confronted with someone who represents they are confused with information sometimes overreact in violent ways to show that they are not one of the detested group: gays. Researchers classify a person like this as homophobic which is defined as unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality.

Hate crimes can also be explained is to focus on the “intolerance of differences.” Most hate crimes are the result of the victims being different from the offenders. A way to solve this problem is to increase the acceptance of diversity within in a society. This is known as multiculturalism which is defined as relating to or including several cultures.

Berrill and Herek explain specific examples of violence against lesbians and gay men:
1.Five men were shot in an adult bookstore in 1987. Three of them died. The offenders stated they killed them because “they were avenging God and his stand against homosexuals.
2.A gay lesbian Christian church was burned in 1988, causing big amount of damage to the structure.
3.A lone assailant stalked two lesbian women in 1988. On was killed and the other wounded severely.
4.Paul Broussard was a victim of “gay bashing” in 1991. He was leaving a bar and attack by ten guys and was severely beaten and he eventually died from the attack.
5.“Murder on the Mountain” was a brutal slayings of two lesbian women. Their bodies were found by Park Rangers and the case is unresolved but it believed to be a hate crime.

According to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Hate Crime Violence at the University of Southern Maine provides six law enforcement initiatives that are underway to address hate crimes. Here is a list of the six initiatives:
•International Association of Chiefs of Police Summit
•DOJ’s National Hate Crime Training Initiative
•BJA’s Roll Call Video: Responding to Hate Crimes
•IACP’s Responding to Hate Crimes
•American Prosecutors Research Institute’s Resource Guide
•Maine Department of the Attorney General’s Designated Civil Rights Officers Project.

In conclusion hate crimes is given that offenders attack their victims based on real perceived characteristics that the victim embodies or possessed. The real challenge for us to face is move past victimization and finding ways to prevent hate.

Works Citied:
Jerin, Robert, and Moriarty, Laura. The Victims of Crime. New Jersey. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 2010

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