Criminal Victimization Research Articles

The Psychosocial and Contextual Predictors of Revenge Desire and Attitudes in Crime Victims: A Scoping Review.

Criminal victimization is associated with an increased risk of violent offending, which can be motivated by revenge. Experiencing revenge desire could also be harmful for crime victims' mental health. To limit revenge's harmful effects, researchers have examined the predictors of revenge desire and attitudes. However, little is known about the predictors of revenge desire and attitudes in crime victims specifically. This scoping review aims to identify the contextual and psychosocial predictors of revenge desire and attitudes from the existing literature. Databases (PsycInfo, PsycArticles, SCOPUS, Web of Science and MEDLINE) were searched in February 2024. Papers published in English, with data pertaining to the psychosocial and contextual predictors of revenge desire and attitudes in crime victims, were included. Quantitative studies and meta-analyses were included. Qualitative studies and reviews were excluded. Risk of bias was assessed using JBI's critical appraisal tools. 3689 records were screened. 10 reports, covering 14 studies, were included. A narrative review was conducted. Four categories of predictors were identified, namely 1) offence-related predictors, 2) mental health predictors, 3) criminal justice system predictors, and 4) demographic predictors. Significant predictors included PTSD symptoms, which were correlated with higher revenge desire, and participation in restorative justice, which was found to lower crime victims' desire for violent revenge in a series of randomized controlled trials. However, this review highlights the need for further research in this area. Many predictors were merely examined in a single study, so require replication. In addition, studies were largely cross-sectional, limiting conclusions about causation.

The Addition and Expansion of Demographic Characteristics in the NCVS

One of the advantages of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is that it is a large-scale data collection that allows data to be analyzed on various subpopulations. Since the survey’s inception, there have been changes to the population, law, and areas of public interest. In July of 2016, questions were added to the NCVS on citizenship, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. In addition, changes were made to existing questions on disability status and household income. This allowed for analysis of criminal victimization against more demographic groups. This article discusses these changes and provides estimates of violent victimization by these demographic characteristics.

JUVENILE VICTIMS OF CRIMES AGAINST SEXUAL INVIOLABILITY COMMITTED IN THE FAMILY (VICTIMIZATION CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY AND THEIR USE IN THE INVESTIGATION)

The article examines the content of the age structure of criminal victimization of minors victims of crimes against sexual integrity in the family . The necessity of identifying the causes and characteristics of juvenile victims of crimes in the categories of cases under consideration is argued in order to solve certain tactical tasks and select special tactical techniques when conducting investigative actions .Based on scientific knowledge in the field of criminology and victimology, the author conducts a comprehensive analysis of the psychological characteristics of victim behavior of juvenile victims, considering victimological characteristics in accordance with their age parameters, in relation to the mechanism of the crime, in the interaction of the dyad “juvenile victim - criminal” .The research uses general scientific methods of dialectical epistemology in combination with private scientific methods: comparative method and method of multifactor analysis, a systematic, integrated and differentiated approach is carried out . The empirical basis of the research is the materials of investigative and judicial practice, as well as the author’s own experience of investigative actions .As a result of the research work, the author comes to the conclusion that the identification and differentiation of the age characteristics of juvenile victims, the typification of victim behavior and victim potential of families of the so-called risk group is of applied importance: it allows making optimal tactical decisions during the investigation of crimes against the sexual integrity of minors committed in the family, and is also used for the development of measures to prevent victimization in children and adolescents .

Responding to nonemergency calls for service via video: A randomized controlled trial

AbstractResearch summaryWe tested the effectiveness of virtual response in policing as an alternative to the traditional physical presence of officers to nonemergency calls for service. We randomly assigned 1059 eligible calls to either virtual or in‐person responses. We estimated the results in terms of waiting time, criminal justice outcomes, cost efficiency, and victim satisfaction based on a representative sample of telephone interviews. We found significant improvements across all measures when using a virtual response, including reduced victim waiting times, greater odds of arrest and charges, and enhanced perceptions of procedural justice, satisfaction, trust, and confidence in the police service. We found no adverse effects on victims due to the lack of physical presence.Research implicationsThese findings suggest that, as with e‐health services, law enforcement can benefit from a cost–beneficial virtual response to nonemergency calls for service. We encourage its consideration as a mass deployment option in policing, as well as a basis for future experimental replications.

Advanced thinking on Trauma: Victims of Crime in the Mental Health Context.

This article addresses often-overlooked forms of client-centered criminal victimization, focusing on the victim's experience of lost power and liberty and the enduring consequences of these traumas. It examines how perpetrators rationalize inflicting psychological, emotional, physical, and sometimes sexual harm, which leaves victims with severe, debilitating symptoms. For many, life after victimization feels intangible and unfamiliar. Effectively supporting victims requires a deep understanding of the roots of their suffering, including the collective cognitive dissonance and victim-blaming that can obstruct trauma-informed recovery. The analysis includes under-researched categories of crime victims, such as those affected by coercive control, gaslighting, stalking, institutional abuse, gang violence, crimes against whistleblowers, and healthcare safety violations. This content highlights the need for psychologists, clinicians, and multidisciplinary teams to understand the unique psychological impacts linked to victimization, including Acute Stress Disorder, PTSD, Complex PTSD, dissociative disorders, and other associated conditions like anxiety, OCD, substance use disorders, and prolonged grief.

The Future of the NCVS: Findings From the Multiyear Effort to Design the New Instrument and Plans for Implementation

During the past 50 years, various changes and improvements to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) have occurred. During this time, the NCVS has provided important national data on personal and household victimization and has remained a key resource for understanding victims’ experiences. As the survey continues to evolve over time to address emerging data needs, this article provides details on the most recent multiyear effort to redesign the NCVS instrument. This effort was focused on three main goals: modernize the organization and content of the NCVS instrument, increase the quality of information collected and efficiency of the instrument flow, and improve the measurement and classification of crime. As we look forward to the next 50 years of NCVS data collection, the new NCVS instrument will continue to be a rich data source for understanding criminal victimization and the resulting consequences.

Criminal Victimization and Agency Attitudes in Mexico

In regions with protracted violence, why do some people view collective resistance as personally agentive relative to other forms of political participation? I argue that victimization experiences shape attitudes about civilian agency. Specifically, individuals who experience direct victimization are most likely to view collective resistance as agentive. To test this, I conceptualize individual-level agency attitudes as a multiform outcome to measure if individuals report that voting, nonviolent organizing or armed organizing is the best way they can personally improve their security. I account for if respondents feel uncertain or apathetic to their situation. In addition, I employ novel measures of victimization to investigate the heterogenous effects of high and low intensity types of victimization, as well as the effects of direct and indirect victimization experiences. Using original survey data from Mexico’s criminal conflict, I find that direct victimization experiences are associated with viewing collective resistance as agentive.

Do All Victimization Types Cluster? Assessing the Co-Occurrence of Hate Speech With Criminal and Bullying Victimization at School.

Evidence indicates that poly-victimization relates to greater victim impacts than single-type victimization. A separate body of research finds that victimization motivated by bias is associated with elevated harm. However, little empirical work has assessed whether youth who experience biased victimization are poly-victims, and studies have not sufficiently examined the potentially deleterious effects of experiencing both types of victimization. This study uses nationally representative data to examine the prevalence of school-based crime and bullying victimization among hate speech victims. I then assess the odds of experiencing fear and avoiding places at school across victimization types. The findings reveal that a considerable number of hate speech victims are also bullied and that experiencing any two types of victimization is associated with increased odds of fear and avoidance. These results highlight the importance of targeting biased victimization in anti-bullying programming.

The Contribution and Role Played by Individual Persons in Criminal Victimisation

The Contribution and Role Played by Individual Persons in Criminal Victimisation

‘I don’t like it, but I won’t leave home’: Interpersonal Factors Restricting Married Women in Rural Zimbabwe From Reporting Intimate Partner Violence

This study explores interpersonal factors that negatively impact married women’s reporting of intimate partner violence. Using the snowball sampling, the data were collected from 12 married women who had suffered intimate partner violence. The findings revealed many interpersonal factors that affect intimate partner abuse reporting, such as the length of the marriage, fear of criminal victimisation, physical impairments, trivialisation of certain types of abuse and a lack of awareness about intimate partner violence. The study calls for the need to build married women’s resilience and mobilise resources to improve their socio-economic status and break their economic dependence on abusive husbands.

Analyzing actual crime victimizations of people with dementia in criminal court judgment databases in Japan

ABSTRACT People with dementia suffer not only from symptoms but also from social vulnerability including an increased risk of abuse and criminal victimization. In existing quantitative studies, the data are based on reports by people with dementia themselves, their family members, or concerned persons, which may be insufficient to accurately identify the actual mechanisms and circumstances of abuse or victimization. To speculate on the exact realities of people with dementia victimization, we extracted criminal sentences of perpetrators collected from the Japanese judgment database. A total of 152 cases in approximately 23 years included various victimization situations; these cases were classified into six categories of harm (physical, psychological, neglect, sexual, financial, and miscellaneous) and five categories of perpetrator (spouse, child, other family, supporter, and stranger or other). There were 93 cases of physical victimization by the spouse or child, which were statistically analyzed. Through case inspections, we provide an accurate victimization process of people with dementia and propose a four-class typology of physical victimization by the family: care exhaustion, antipathy to people with dementia, self-righteous or self-contained family, and continuous abuse type. These case scrutinies and their classifications may contribute to interventions regarding the support of people with dementia and their families.

Victims of Cyber Theft as an Object of Modern Russian Cybervictimology: A Criminological Analysis of Statistical Indicators of Criminal Victimhood 2021-2022

The purpose of the work is to establish the socio-demographic structure of the realized criminal victimhood of cybercrime victims in modern Russian society. The methodological basis of the conducted research is dialectical materialism and general-scientific and private-scientific methods of cognition of criminal phenomena and processes based on it .Results of the study. The state, structure and dynamics of changes in the realized mass criminal victimization of victims of cyber theft in Russia are described. The tendency of decrease of mass criminal victimization from cyber theft and change of its structure is noted. It has been proved that the highest criminal victimization among cyber theft victims is among those with increased labor activity: young people and mature age persons; the lowest is among the elderly and minors. Among socially vulnerable groups, two categories of cybercrime victims were found to be the most cybervictimogenic: persons without a permanent source of income and old-age pensioners.

Review of the Official Opponent about the Dissertation of N. M. Aleksandrina on the Topic “Criminal Victimization of Legal Entities and its Prevention: a Criminological Research”

Review of the official opponent about the dissertation of Natalia M. Alexandrina on the topic “Criminal Victimization of Legal Entities and its Prevention: a Criminological Research”, submitted for the degree of Candidate of Legal Sciences on the specialty 5.1.4 Criminal Law Sciences (Legal Sciences).

Theft as a type of property offense: problems of criminal law characterization

The article highlights the issues of criminal law characterization of theft as one of the types of criminal offenses against property. Based on the analysis of statistical data, the author emphasizes that theft is a fairly common manifestation of criminal behavior of a person. This necessitates its comprehensive study, including consideration of the issues of its criminal law characterization. It is noted that in the science of criminal law there are no uniform approaches to determining the criteria for criminal law characterization of theft. The most common are: corpus delicti; qualifying and specially qualifying features; distinction from related offenses and offenses defined by other branches of law.
 The author emphasizes that despite the legally enshrined concept of theft, there are a number of approaches to its definition in criminal law. When formulating them, scholars focus on a certain defining feature of theft. The author characterizes the element of secrecy as one of the most defining features of theft.
 The author focuses on the case law on distinguishing theft from other types of criminal offenses against property. The author analyzes both the statutory criteria for classification of theft and the criteria proposed by researchers of criminal law and criminology. Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the objective side of this criminal offense, which is the basis for distinguishing theft from other offenses against property. It is emphasized that, according to the subjective side, theft involves only direct intent. It is noted that in the course of the criminal law characterization of theft, the issues of victimization factors (study of the category of a criminal offense victim, peculiarities of the victim’s behavior, etc.) The author concludes that the issue of both the criteria for criminal legal characterization of theft and their content and features remains controversial in criminal law science and requires further study.

Was there a Better Time to be Mother? Past and Present of the Socio-Cultural Fear of Crime

Fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime, and it is nurtured by folklore and the media. Folklore fosters fear of crime by using oral tradition transferred throughout generations by updating old contexts into modern times. On the other hand, the media visualizes the possibility of being a victim by introducing the real-life experiences of victims. Contrary to folklore, victims presented in the media seem more accessible, and the victimization of individuals can be proven. Folklore and the media have cooperated to keep the fear of crime alive to warn society that individual lives are on the verge of becoming victims of criminals. In this paper, I aim to describe the fear of crime through two particular crimes: Child abductions and organ thefts. Data for this research comes from two sets of materials: Newspaper news stories and semi-structured interviews conducted in face-to-face settings with mothers from two different generations. My research reveals that mothers of the eighties were scared of their children being victims of beggar gangs and organ trade criminals, while generation Y mothers suffer from the possibility of their children being victims of online grooming and sextortion. Keywords: Folklore, media, fear of crime, urban legends, organ theft narratives.

Disentangling Police-recorded Crime Change in Hong Kong amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Without a doubt, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the landscape of human life across the globe. It may further lead to a substantial behavioral change in individuals, including the pattern of criminal victimization victimization. Although some previous studies suggested that there was a crime drop in Western societies after the pandemic outbreak, the effect of the pandemic on crime rates in the non-Western context was still vague. Therefore, the present study analyzed the police-recorded data in Hong Kong, a city in the south side of China that continued to enact a "dynamic zero covid" control of positive cases. In line with the previous studies, traditional crime, such as assaults in Hong Kong, dropped steadily after the pandemic outbreak. Yet, surprisingly, the overall crime rate alternatively increased amid the pandemic which is mainly attributed to the surge in cybercrime, especially deceptions and blackmail. This paper thus warrants more thorough investigations of the change in routine activities to the virtual world and the risks of cyber victimizations. Limitations and policy implications were discussed.

No heaven but no longer hell? Tales of criminal victimization and shelter among irregular migrant men

Irregular migrants are legally excluded from formal employment, regular housing markets, and unemployment benefits, and in the Netherlands, they are also excluded from governmentally funded homeless shelters. While alternative sheltering arrangements have emerged for specific irregular migrants (e.g. minors, victims of human trafficking), unaccompanied adult men were typically still excluded from institutionalized shelter. In 2019, however, the national government launched a sheltering pilot for irregular migrants, which involves unaccompanied adult men in particular. Based on qualitative fieldwork in Rotterdam, and using Van Dijk and Steinmetz’s risk model as a theoretical lens, we argue that irregular status, interacting with other relevant factors such as social capital, co-determines the men’s criminal victimization risks, and fear of crime. In addition, we show how access to shelter changed the meaning and therefore the consequences of irregular status, resulting in both ‘de-marginalization’ and ‘re-marginalization’: victimization risks were generally reported to be lower in the shelter than in the streets, but sheltering also introduced new risks, which were mostly attributed to the co-presence of other sheltered groups, especially marginalized European Union (EU) citizens with a stronger immigration status. Paying attention to immigration statuses, and how they are socially constructed, thus helps to shed light on contemporary criminal victimization risks.

Legal Protections for Victims of Sexual Violence and the Rights of Victims

WHO has conducted surveys from 2000 to 2018, revealing that out of 161 countries, at least one in three women in the world has experienced physical and/or sexual violence. Additionally, The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women states that an estimated 35% of women worldwide have experienced physical and sexual violence. The issues addressed in this research are the specific regulations on sexual violence criminal acts in Law Number 12 of 2022 concerning the Sexual Violence Crime Law and the legal protection policy for victims of sexual violence. This research adopts a normative juridical approach, utilizing a literature review as well as secondary data analysis with a statute approach. The research findings indicate that the specific regulations in Sexual Violence Crime Law can be classified based on their definitions, types, evidence arrangements, victim rights, and criminal sanctions. The victim rights encompass the right to assistance, restitution, and compensation, the right to temporary protection, the right not to appear at trial, and the rights related to handling, protection, recovery, and rights for the family of victims of sexual violence criminal. The new regulations and provisions in Sexual Violence Crime Law have introduced many new innovations, particularly in legal protection policies that are oriented towards the rights of victims. However, some aspects still need to be considered to ensure the effective implementation of these regulations. It is necessary to promptly establish further implementing regulations regarding granting victims' rights.

The Level of Criminal Victimization of Legal Entities in the Russian Federation

Victimological statistics play an important role in the implementation of activities aimed at countering crime. The study of statistical indicators of criminal victimization makes it possible to identify trends, trace the dynamics of negative consequences, and focus on the regions and areas of activity most susceptible to victimization. Based on mathematical formulas developed earlier by scientists for determining the level of crime and victimization, a formula for calculating the coefficient of criminal victimization in relation to legal entities has been derived in the scientific work, which allows more accurately tracking the level of corporate victimization both on the territory of the entire Russian Federation and in individual districts and subjects of the Russian Federation. As a result of the study, the level of criminal corporate victimization for 2021 and 2022 was calculated, their comparative analysis was performed. In particular, the average coefficient of criminal victimization of legal entities in Russia in 2022 amounted to 8970 and exceeded this indicator 2021 by 15 %; of all the districts of the Russian Federation, the highest level of victimization legal entities in the Southern Federal District, and the lowest — in the Central Federal District.

Review of the book D. V. Zhmurov “Cybervictimology"

The paper gives an expert assessment of the monographic study of the Siberian criminologist Dmitry Vitalievich Zhmurov, prepared on the topic: “Cybervictimology”, published by the authoritative Moscow publishing house “Yurlitinform” in early 2023 . The reviewer describes the main merits of the monographic study, as well as critical judgments on some issues reflected on its pages. The reviewer emphasizes the relevance of the research, its absolute scientific novelty and extreme practical significance. The author’s development of a unique concept — a private victimological theory called “cybervictimology”, which is a comprehensive study of cybervictims, their cybervictimization, peculiarities of their cybervictimization, as well as the system of victimological prevention of criminal victimization in the information space, is noted as positive aspects. The author’s criticisms of the study include the following: the structure of the work is not quite successful and the insufficient use of official departmental victimization statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.