Theory Development in Victimology - An Assessment of Recent Progress and of Continuing Challenges (From Victim in International Perspective, P 96-104, 1982, Hans Joachim Schneider, ed. - See NCJ-86192)

• NCJ Number: 86198
• Author(s): E E Flynn
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Walter de Gruyter & Co
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

Victimology can gain from all types of theoretical development, and it will be useful for the field to differentiate the tasks of victimization research from professional activities that focus on victim services, treatment, or programs.

Abstract

To date, victimology lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach while being characterized by the pursuit of a number of theoretical perspectives. High priority should be given to the development of hypotheses for the explanation of perceived phenomena and the search for the most reliable evidence to confirm or disprove those hypotheses. Further, the scope and focus of victimology should be more encompassive than is currently the case, so as to facilitate optimal theory development; however, an enlarged focus should not come at the neglect of the development of special, small-scale theories applicable to limited ranges of data or of theories of the middle range. Advances in the field will only come to the degree that special and middle-range theories are developed. Considering the current emphasis on the development of affirmative action on behalf of crime victims, it is unlikely that victimology will soon renounce its parentage and leave the orbit of criminology, as some researchers have proposed. Proponents of a divorce between these two fields may eventually see their wishes fulfilled, however, if victimology follows the development of other disciplines. It may well subsume criminology and other disciplines as it moves to a more encompassive and abstract level in the distant future. Fifteen notes and 26 references are provided.