Forensic Victimology
2nd Edition
Chapter Two: Victimity - Entering the
Criminal Justice System
Victimity
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Victimity refers to the state, quality, or fact of being a
victim. Understanding how the CJ system
documents victim evidence is necessary for at least
two reasons:
1. It contextualizes the available information – when it is
collected, how it is collected, and why it is collected.
2. Unless one has been the victim of a crime or works
directly with victims in the justice system, the only
frames of reference that come to mind are residual
images from film and television.
• Film and television create a misinformed
availability heuristic.
Victims in the Justice
System
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Before a victim enters the CJ system, the crime or
crimes must be reported to law enforcement.
Victims report crime for a variety of reasons,
including:
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Seeking an end to the harm that is being caused to
themselves or others;
To help catch and punish an offender;
To prevent future crimes;
To facilitate the recovery of property; and
To sometimes they report unwillingly because it is
unavoidable.
Victims in the Justice
System
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Not all victims report crimes to law enforcement.
Crime victims may decide not to report because:
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They consider it a personal matter and do not want
the attention;
They have reported it to another authority and no
longer perceive a duty to report it themselves;
They do not think it is important enough to report it to
police;
They think reporting the crime will take too much
time;
Victims in the Justice
System
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Continued:
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They believe the police will not care, will not be
competent, or may be biased against them;
They feel there is a lack of evidence and that they
will not be believed;
They feel that they might be blamed for what
happened;
In cases involving theft, they might have recovered
their valuable and consider the matter closed.
Mandated Reporters
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Mandated reporters are those bound by law to
report evidence of crime, abuse, or neglect.
Examples include: corrections employees, daycare
workers, law enforcement employees, mental health
professionals, etc.)
There are legal penalties for failing in the duty to
report, both criminal and civil.
The Role of Law
Enforcement
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Law enforcement is the branch of the criminal
justice system that is legally commissioned to
repond to crime.
It is composed of various municipal, state, and
federal agencies that are required, by law, to
develop strategies and deploy personnel within an
established jurisdiction that:
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Facilitate the prevention of crime
Respond to criminal complaints
Investigate unsolved crime
Arrest suspected criminals
Recover stolen property
The Role of Victim
Advocates
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A victim advocate, when assigned to a given case,
is intended as a liaison between a victim and/or the
victim’s family and the criminal justice system.
They facilitate the arrangement of resources,
interviews and the gathering of victim information.
First Contact
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Initial contact between victims and the justice
system is typically made via the police or a witness.
Both can present significant hurdles that must be
cleared in order for the victim to successfully initiate
a criminal investigation.
However, this process does not always go smoothly.
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Good Samaritans respond to victim peril and injuries,
notify the authorities, and become eventual
witnessed when EMS or law enforcement arrives.
However, Bad Samaritans fail to help victims, which
may result from apathy, distrust, or fear of
involvement with respect to the victim or the situation
as it presents itself.
First Contact
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Continued:
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There is an inherent “power struggle” between the
victims of crime and law enforcement officers
charged with its investigation.
The cumulative ineptness, ignorance, apathy, and
even belligerence of those in the criminal justice
system can result in double victimization.
Law enforcement professionals have a duty of care.
Victim Crime Data
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In the study of victims and victimity, there are two
major approaches to research and the development
of knowledge:
1. Nomothetic knowledge – the study of the abstract,
which involves the examination of groups and
universal laws.
2. Idiographic knowledge – the study of the concrete,
which involves the examination of individuals and
their actual qualities.
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Forensic victimology is oriented towards idiographic
victim study, however, nomothetic victim data may
be used to develop theories or provide a point of
fundamental reference.
Victim Crime Data
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The UCR Program
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The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program
compiles and publishes aggregated crime data.
However, there are three main problems with the
UCR data:
1. Victim underroperting
2. Agency failure to report
3. Crime data falsification (downgrading,
misclassifying, and unfounding complaints).