Transcript Theoretical Victimology

Theoretical Victimology
by
Prof. Dr. Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff
Victimology as a Science
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Victimology as word:
– Victima
– Logos
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Latin, the victim
body of theoretical knowledge,
teaching
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Victimology
A theoretical body of knowledge
 This is not
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– practical victim assistance
– a political movement
– creation of social programs
– victim related legislation
– Practical application of victimologiocal
knowledge
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Basic Structure of Victimology
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Dealing with
– Victims
– Victimizations
– Reactions to both,
» To victims
» To victimizations
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Who is theVICTIM?
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Answer 1:
– Victims of crime
» Hans von Hentig
» Stephen Schafer
» Ezzat Fattah
– Result:
» special victimology
» penal victimology
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superfluous endeavor!
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Who is the VICTIM
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Answer 2:
– Victims of everything
– Benjamin Mendelsohn
Result: General Victimology
To overcrowded
and therefore empty
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Who is the VICTIM
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Answer 3:
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Menmade victims
Zvonimir Paul Separovic
Elias Neumann
Robert Elias
Gerd F. Kirchhoff
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victimologia - Victimologia
victimologia = science of the crime victims
 Victimologia – toda victima social
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Poverty
Marginalization
Creation of masses excluded from decent living
Excluded from hospitals, schools, labor market
Victims of globalization
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Elias Neuman I
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Victimologia – el rol de la victima en los delitos
convencionales y no convencionales
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2nd ed. 1994
The poor, the marginalized,
The socially submerged
Victims of political systems and ideologies
Victims of religions
Victims of the justice system
Victims of slavery and inhuman labor conditions
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Elias Neuman II 1994
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Victimology is an autonomous science if it looks
at all the
– victims of abuse of power,
» national or supranational,
– Victims of all oppression and terrorism in a society,
» as individuals,
» groups or
» All people in a country.
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Answer 4:
Victims of Human Rights Violations
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Robert Elias
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Criminal victimization
Social sources of victimization
Governmental sources of victimization
Framework of Human Rights
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Critical of traditional victimology:
Law and order lobby has coopted victim assistance
Victims have gained far less than promised
Consumer frauds, poluution, unnecessarý drugs and
surgery, food additives, discrimination, poverty,
exploitation and war
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Answer 5: Victims of disaster and climate change
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Victimology includes victims of disaster
and natural catastrophes including climate
change
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Newest Development since 10 years, mainly
Dussich Fachry, Mundy, Susetyo
Local: geographic situation in danger zone
Relationship to the newest UN discussions that
look at global sources of Human (In-) Security
» Social Consequences of Human Omissions to
Secure Safe Life” - more publications needed
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Towards „Interim“ Consensus
1985 Declaration of Basic Principles of
Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of
Power
 One of the most important achievements of
„victimology“
 Deals with crime victims and with victims
of „Abuse of Power“
 Attempts to create a Victim Convention
 Self Awareness of WSV „You are not
alone“
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Victimology defines
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Who is the victim?
– Important if you have special legislation which
gives victims some benefits
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Schneider: When threatened by a criminal
act, the victim may be
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A person
An organization
The moral order
The legal system
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Victims
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Only humans? No (Wolfgangs first order victims)
Organizations (Wolfgang´s second order victims)
– Private companies, unicorporated associations,
– Trade unions
– Government bodies
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State (Wolfgang´s third order victims)
– Tax fraud, espionage
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International order
– Crimes against humanity – The Tribunal in the Hague
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Victimology measures
Entrance gate for the Methods of Empirical
Research
 Problems of measuring victimization
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Victimology measures
Victimizations: the experience of being a victim
 Three dimensions of damage
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Victim Surveys
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Who, what, when, which consequences
How many victims are out there....
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Is the risk of victimization evenly distributed
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Over time
Over area
Over sex
Over age
What goes together with victimization?
– Social correlates of victimization
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Victimology measures
Victimizations
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the experience of being a victim
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Victim Surveys
» See special presentation in this course
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Who, what, when, which consequences
How many viuctims are out there....
Is the risk of victimization evenly distributed
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Over time
Over area
Over sex
Over age
What goes together with victimization?
– Social correlates
of 2011
victimization
Jakarta
- Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff
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Victimology
scientific definition,
description,
measurement,
anylyses of patterns, of regularities,
of associative and maybe causal
relationships
and probabilities
and their interpretation.
Reactions
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Victimology looks at reactions towards
victimization
-central topic in this fieldSocial sciences work on different levels of analysis
– Situational level
– Institutional level
– Macro-level
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Reactions
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Reactions of the victim
– Primary victimization
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Reactions of the social auditorium
– Secondary victimization
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Reactions permanently patterned
– Social structures: structural victimization
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Reactions
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It is proven that worldwide women especially are
victimized by those men who have control over
them and that authorities either cause or tolerate
these abuses
– Domestic violence
– Women in custody
– Systematic rapes in wars and in civil unrest
Quoted from ai: Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds-Torture and Ill Treatment of Women,
2March 2001
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Victim´s Informal Reactions
Crisis
 Crisis Reactions
 Crisis Intervention
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– Entrance door for the whole system of victim
treatment:
» Counseling
» Crisis Intervention
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Formal Reactions
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Victim Assistance Services
Criminal Justice System
 Restorative Justice
 Transitional Justice
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