“Criminology is the interdisciplinary study of crime as both an individual and social phenomenon, with research on the origins and forms of crime, its causes and consequences, and social and governmental reactions to it” (2019). A victim’s behavior plays a major role in their victimization. Victim’s “potential” is made up of a combination of biology, socialization, and chance. Evolution and history have given humans the ability to engage in violent behavior (Alvarez,2017). Since the 1950s, Benjamin Mendelsohn has been the first criminologist to create a victim typology. His analysis displayed six typologies of the victim-victimizer relationship. This essay will demonstrate an analysis of all six of the typologies along with examples. I will outline the different types of victim-blaming theories as well as how the victim-offender relationship is critiqued through many different perspectives. Furthermore, I will also explain how through systemic issues such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia is shown poorly through the criminal justice system. Additionally, the notion of police brutality, specifically against women.
Benjamin Mendelsohn’s main concern was the victim’s precipitation, to what degree the victim is responsible for their victimization, adding with the criminal justice system. In 1956, he created a system of classification of victims and placed them into six categories and coined the term “victimology” (Allspach,2019). Beniamin Mendelson had six typologies of the victim-victimizer relationship. One is the completely innocent victim, which meant someone who did not contribute to the crime. This is an example of the saying “someone being at the wrong place at the wrong time.” In other words, could be a child or someone unaware of their victimization. Second, being the victim with minor guilt, which means someone who is unintentionally committing the action, like when a woman has a miscarriage or a person going to a party knowing that an assault might take place. Three is significant shares guilt, an example would be two people attempting to commit a crime together, like robbing a bank or store together. The fourth being the victim guilty, which means someone helped by provoking you to commit the crime. Fifty is the ideology of the victim is more guilty. Victim acts aggressively and is killed by the accused, who is acting in self-defence. Lastly, the sixth typology is simulating the victim. Which means someone who suffers from a mental disorder that think they are victims, someone “pretending to be a victim”. An example would be someone falsely reporting a crime they committed. Mendelsohn's typology gives the impression that he believed no victim is entirely innocent when crimes are inflicted upon them. Moreover, Mendelsohn’s typologies are controversial because he believed that most victims had an unconscious attitude that led to their victimization. Von Hentig looked at victims of homicide and developed a typology that considered biological, sociological, and psychological factors (Scott,2016). Victim precipitation is also sometimes referred to as victim-blaming or victim facilitation and refers to the idea of shared responsibility between the offender and the victim in a victimizing event (Scott,2016). Behaviors that can be interpreted as contributing to victim precipitation are victim behaviors that bring about, in whole or in part, his or her victimization. Implicit in this definition is the assumption that the victimization process is an interaction between two or more people that results in victimization.
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Accusing the victim refers to the tendency to hold victims of negative events responsible for those outcomes. While victim-blaming can occur in a variety of situations, it appears to be particularly likely in cases of sexual assault. In Mendelson’s typologies, he is initially victim-blaming. Typologies of victimization have different types of victim-blaming theories within three sections; Marvin Wolfgang introduced these theories. Each one of the theories being, victim precipitation, victim facilitation, and victim provocation (Allspach,2019). Victim precipitation analysis of how a victim’s interaction with the victimizer contributes to their victimization. An example would be, assaulting someone or robbery. Victim facilitation is a victim contributed to the event assuming full or shared responsibility between the offender and the victimizing event. As well as assigning victims as an active rather than a passive role. Victim provocation is a victim as the initial aggressor, an instigator. An example would be if a husband were to beat his wife and the wife uses self-defence and kills him, it is still on the husband. Thus, Marvin Wolfgang has these three theories, which made up of different theorists following these different typologies and go by them. Some theorists like Stephen Scheafer say it is the victim’s responsibility to prevent victimization, this is called “functional responsibility” (Allspach,2019). While other theorists like Karmen follow the theory of victim participation, victim provocation, victim co-operation, and victim compliance, the different types start from totally innocent going to fully responsible after each step. Von Hentig’s victim typology is raging from different classes, one being the general class that is weakest in society, from children, youth, elderly, mental disability to those who have an “artificial handicap” such as race, sex, and immigrants (Alvarex,2017). Furthermore, the psychological class lifestyle choices indicate a disturbance in self-preservation and put themselves at risk of Victimization. A lot of these theories fail to shed light on power relations between victim and offender, through the parts of victims and crimes from race, class, gender and interpretative power. The assumption that violence and crime lay within the control of the victim, with a lack of social, economic and political context. Furthering the development of victim-blaming, it is important to acknowledge the role of under-reporting among sexual violence cases. There are many criticisms to be investigated when it comes to the victim-victimizer relationship and the theories built around it. Certainly, by analyzing both the victim and the perpetrator, there is no bias being formed and both can be held accountable for their actions. However, Karmen makes the point of how dangerous it can be to blame the victims. Thus, by victim-blaming, we legitimize the victims and downplay the role of the victimizer as an encouraged offender (Scott, 2016). Von Hentig’s theory is most strongly associated with stereotyping, particularly when he considers women as “weak in society.” By labeling them, he undermines the female species, leaving more room for male supremacy to further evolve. This conclusively brings the ideas of under-reporting on sexual violence full circle (Gravelin, Biernat, & Bucher,2019).
An individual who engages in violence usually does so for many reasons, and even when there is a specific trigger, the behavior is also influenced by numerous factors, including biology, psychology, history, childhood trauma, and socialization. For example, someone who is insulted in a bar and lashes out at his enemy is responding predominantly to that insult, but his response is also dictated by his mood and temperament. His previous life experiences may also play a role, how bystanders respond, and a multiple of other factors. There is no one single cause that brings about violence in any given situation. One of Mendelsohn’s concentrations was rape, and the feminist movement found that sexual violence was based on power which is a man’s control over a woman. Feminists challenged the ideology that a woman was “asking for it” by dressing provocatively or appearing seductive (Allspach,2019). This ideology turned the blame on the victims of sexual violence rather than those who committed the crime. However, underreporting on sexual violence has much to do with how the types of victim-blaming operate. As many universities have to deal with sexual assault cases on campus, specifically in the sexiest ways. An example of a type of victim-blaming that a university had to deal was taken place at York University (Allspach,2019). In 2011, Toronto Police Officer Michael Sanguinetti used Crime prevention by saying that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Which was an act of police brutality against a woman. A police officer should provide victims with the reassurance that safety rather than blaming them for what is out of their control. Moreover, there have been many different groups opened up for people who are going through sexual assaults but even then, women are the ones to blame. Rape culture and the practice of victim-blaming are similar in this case both are dominating in American society specifically. Rape culture is what normalizes sexual violence and blames rape victims for the attacks against them in the criminal justice system in America (2017). Just like how the media represents man to be more dominant and even though a woman is becoming more involved with the media there still a big issue to how a woman is being shown. The effects media has on portraying rape is a very negative thing, media representation of rape on the outcome of real rape trials are also examined. The problematic links between rape culture, victim-blaming, media, and criminal justice practices are reviewed, and potential solutions are discussed. ‘The Hunting Ground’ is a documentary that shows how women and some men recounting on camera how they were raped at their schools and then subsequently denied justice by the schools. The documentary discusses sexual assault, through what the Whitehouse realized in 2014, how campus rapes are to be treated. Each of the women’s stories was very emotional and shows how much anger they had within them. This documentary is a good way to help represent women to be more careful about what goes on around campus. Starting from Harvard College to the University of California, which was under investigation by the Department of education for their handling of rape accusations. The issue is whether they violated federal laws, Title IX, which bans discrimination at colleges receiving federal money (2016). In addition, not only do woman face sexual violence but similarly to the LGBTQ community who goes through the same struggles and are targeted as victims of violence, discriminated against and denied services, the person’s behind the acts to so out of homophobic attitudes that serve maintain heterosexual privileged (Human Rights Education Associates,2003) The criminal justice system has failed in the eyes of women and LGBTQ community, but not so much in terms of the males. Therefore, this just goes to show how victim-blaming operates in the sexiest ways and plays a role in the under-reporting of sexual violence.
In conclusion, Benjamin Mendelsohn’s elaborates on six typologies, which show how he is victim blaming in six different levels. The criminal justice system works to popularize our minds with ideas of hegemonic masculinity and white supremacy, failing to advocate for women's empowerment. We need to focus on the idea that the victim is the perpetrator to ensure the offender takes responsibility for the crime being committed. Sexual assault cases on campuses to show how the types of victim-blaming operate in sexist ways and may play a role in the under-reporting of sexual violence.
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