Victimology and Criminal Policy

• NCJ Number: 90779
• Journal: Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1981) Pages: 343-352
• Author(s): D Szabo
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: French
• Country: Switzerland
• Note: Revised, abridged version of a lecture given at the 3rd International Symposium of Victimology in Muenster, W. Germany, September 1979

Annotation

This article assesses the role of victimology in criminological theory, criminal policy, and criminological research.

Abstract

Criminological theory had until recently been concerned principally with the person of the offender and with the laws that criminalize certain behaviors. Victimology has emerged since the 1950's to focus on the person victimized -- to examine the idea of victim proneness and the depersonalization of victims by the criminal justice system. While offender-oriented criminal policy depends primarily on the medical model (treatment, rehabilitation), victimology suggests policies using the preventive model (public education, citizen crime prevention) and the justice model (restitution, compensation programs). Significant areas of victimological research that need to be developed include victimization surveys, offender-victim relationships, psychological victimization effects, impact of victim assistance and crime prevention policies, and comparative studies of the victim's role and function in society and in the criminal justice system. A reference list contains 16 entries.