NCJ Number
223146
Date Published
2007
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This chapter constructs an argument that shows how criminal victimization and vulnerability have been socially constructed to serve political and economic interests, in spite of empirical evidence that the individuals most likely to become crime victims are young, minority males who are economically and socially disadvantaged, and thus at high risk for becoming offenders as well as crime victims.
Abstract
This chapter explains why it is that, despite such research evidence, relatively few resources are spent addressing victimization among the group most at risk. The author argues that this is because debates and policies that focus on crime victims and vulnerability are neither neutral nor independent from wider ideological and economic interests in society. This chapter analyzes these interests in explaining what is meant by both the "ideal" victim (Christie, 1986) and the concept of vulnerability. The "ideal" victim has been typically viewed as the "deserving" victim, who evokes perceptions of "innocence" and sympathy that elicit public and political support for the use of public resources for victim services, including financial compensation. In actuality, crime victims are not always entirely "good," and offenders are not always entirely "bad." This chapter contends that the image of crime victims has been constructed so as to be marketable, both politically and economically, without regard to empirical data regarding who is actually most likely to become a crime victim. Young, low-income or unemployed men, often from Black and other minority ethnic groups, are routinely labeled as risks for offending rather than vulnerable, heavily victimized groups. The author advises that this disconnect between victimization research and victim-oriented policies and practices must be aggressively addressed; "otherwise, what is the point of studying victims at all?" 2 figures and 101 references