NCJ Number
208974
Journal
International Review of Victimology Volume: 11 Issue: 2/3 Dated: 2004 Pages: 225-257
Date Published
2004
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the issues of social and institutional interactions which may minimize a victim’s ability to actively cope with their victimization, and reframes victimization in terms of the interplay between victims’ social and institutional interactions and their human agency to cope.
Abstract
This paper examines the coping strategies of victims or human agency; the experiences of victims of crime and the subsequent social and institutional interactions which may serve to minimize their ability to actively cope with their experiences. It attempts to reframe victimization in terms of the interplay between victims’ social and institutional interactions, on one hand, and their human agency to cope on the other. Recognizing the difficulty in accessing highly personal information from victims, this paper used a wide variety of direct and indirect approaches. In examining the circumstances faced by victims, the information that they encounter, and the coping strategies they employ, it is suggested that the important question is not so much if active coping occurs, but under which social conditions human agency is likely to be most engaged. Various coping choices and strategies take place in a wider social context which influences the form that coping strategies take. References