Perceptions Of Victims Research Articles

Dying for help: How mortality salience impacts perceptions of victims

Terror Management Theory posits that reminders of mortality increase support for cultural values and negative views toward transgressors. However, little research has investigated how mortality salience can influence individuals’ perceptions of victims who have suffered differing moral misfortune types. This study explored how mortality salience and moral misfortune types affect the perceptions of victims. One hundred forty-three participants were exposed to either mortality or control manipulation and were given five victim scenarios based on five moral foundations: harm, fairness, purity, loyalty, and authority. Participants rated the deservingness of help for the victim in each scenario. The results indicated that harm and purity transgressions elicited more help, while conservative individuals viewed purity victims less favorably under mortality salience. This suggests that mortality salience influences victim perceptions based on moral context. This study illustrates how mortality salience can shape perceptions of victim’s deservingness.

Advocates' Perception of the Secondary Victimization of Rape Survivors by Law Enforcement, the Legal System, and Hospital Professionals.

Sexual victimization occurs frequently and it remains important to consider rape victim advocates' perceptions of survivors' secondary victimization due to treatment from police, the legal system, and medical professionals working in hospital emergency departments. Data from interviews with 41 U.S. advocates provide a comprehensive perspective of secondary victimization. Most advocates perceive that survivors face secondary victimization because they are doubted or blamed, face repeated questioning, feel left out of the legal processes, experience invasive evidence collection, and do not receive the desired legal outcome. Advocates share their ways to reduce secondary victimization, such as preparing, empowering, and listening to survivors.

Influence of Unperceived Victimization on Adolescent Well-Being.

Background: Bullying has been shown to have negative consequences on the health and well-being of adolescents. Some students may experience various bullying behaviors and not consider themselves victims, finding themselves in a situation of unperceived mistreatment. Few studies have focused on the relationship between self-reported victimization behaviors and self-identification as a victim. Our objective is to determine the prevalence of unperceived victimization and analyze its relationship with adolescent distress. Methods: A total of 964 adolescents aged between 12 and 19 years participated. Standardized instruments were used to assess psychological distress, bullying in the last month and previous years, perception of victimization, and resilience. Results: More than 20% of adolescents are in a situation of unperceived victimization, not recognizing themselves as victims despite reporting bullying behaviors. Among girls and middle adolescence, perceiving oneself as a victim increases the likelihood of feeling distress. The likelihood of experiencing distress increases with previous victimization and decreases with high resilience. Conclusions: Mental health professionals should consider bullying as a factor of distress in adolescence. It is essential to refer adolescent victims of bullying to specialized mental health resources to adequately address their well-being and increase resilience as a protective factor.

Jurors' perceptions of transgender victims of sexual assault: A literature review of empirical research and policy review of judicial instructions.

Sexual assault affects many people of all gender identities, yet most cases do not result in conviction. This may be due to common, inaccurate misperceptions juries hold about how sexual assault is perpetrated and how victims respond to sexual assault. Research has examined misperceptions relating to cisgender victims, yet little is known about the unique misconceptions and stereotypes that may unfairly disadvantage transgender victims or whether courts are attempting to safeguard against them. This article presents a literature review of empirical research on (mock) jurors' perceptions of transgender victims and a review of judicial instructions about gender identity. We find that empirical research is extremely limited with mixed findings, but many jurisdictions allow for judicial instructions warning jurors against prejudice based on gender identity. Further research is urgently needed to identify common misperceptions jurors may have that are specific to transgender victims to inform legal safeguards and improve justice outcomes.

Police Perception of Victims of Crime: Research and Training Perspective From the Slovak Republic

The availability of crime relevant data, not excluding data on victims of crime, is a prerequisite for the optimal application of state crime control. The need to examine victims of crime and provide them with appropriate assistance is becoming a globally discussed issue. The paper aims to analyse selected data on victims of crime in the Slovak Republic through quantitative and qualitative entries, which arise from an international research project carried out at the Academy of the Police Force in Bratislava titled Implementation of the Act on Victims of Crime into Police and Victimology Practice (Research No. 255). From the methodological point of view, the research was supported by a questionnaire, selected methods and techniques of scientific cognition, such as the historical method, the study and analysis of legal documents, expert literature and statistical records.StreszczenieDostępność danych dotyczących przestępczości, nie wyłączając danych dotyczących ofiar przestępstw, jest warunkiem wstępnym optymalnego stosowania kontroli przestępczości przez państwo. Potrzeba zbadania ofiar przestępstw i zapewnienia im odpowiedniej pomocy staje się kwestią dyskutowaną na całym świecie. Artykuł ma na celu analizę wybranych danych dotyczących ofiar przestępstw w Republice Słowackiej poprzez ujęcia ilościowe i jakościowe, które wynikają z międzynarodowego projektu badawczego prowadzonego w Akademii Sił Policyjnych w Bratysławie zatytułowanego: Wdrożenie ustawy o ofiarach przestępstw do praktyki policyjnej i wiktymologicznej (Badanie nr 255). Z metodologicznego punktu widzenia badania zostały wsparte kwestionariuszem oraz wybranymi metodami i technikami poznania naukowego, takimi jak metoda historyczna, badanie i analiza dokumentów prawnych, literatury fachowej i rejestrów statystycznych.ResumenLa disponibilidad de datos sobre la delincuencia, sin excluir los datos sobre las víctimas de delitos, es un requisito previo para la aplicación óptima del control de la delincuencia por parte del Estado. La necesidad de investigar a las víctimas de delitos y proporcionarles la asistencia adecuada se está convirtiendo en un tema debatido en todo el mundo. Este artículo pretende analizar datos seleccionados sobre las víctimas de delitos en la República Eslovaca a través de instantáneas cuantitativas y cualitativas que resultan de un proyecto de investigación internacional llevado a cabo en la Academia de Policía de Bratislava titulado: Aplicación de la Ley de Víctimas de Delitos en la Práctica Policial y Victimológica (Estudio n 255). Desde un punto de vista metodológico, la investigación se apoyó en un cuestionario y enmétodos y técnicas seleccionados de cognición científica, como el método histórico, el estudio y análisis de documentos jurídicos, literatura profesional y registros estadísticos.ZusammenfassungDie Verfügbarkeit von Verbrechensdaten, einschlieβlich die Daten über Verbrechensopfer, ist eine Voraussetzung für die optimale Anwendung der Verbrechensbekämpfung durch den Staat. Die Notwendigkeit, die Opfer von Straftaten zu untersuchen und ihnen angemessene Hilfe zukommen zu lassen, ist ein weltweit diskutiertes Thema. In diesem Artikel werden ausgewählte Daten über Opfer von Straftaten in der Slowakischen Republik in einem quantitativen und qualitativen Maβe analysiert, die aus einem internationalen Forschungsprojekt an der Polizeiakademie in Bratislava mit dem Titel: Die Einführung des Gesetzes über Opfer der Straftaten zur polizeilichen und viktimologischen Praxis (Studie, Nr. 255) hervorgehen. In methodischer Hinsicht wurde die Forschung durch einen Fragebogen und ausgewählte Methoden und Techniken der wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnis unterstützt, wie z.B. die historische Methode, das Studium und die Analyse von rechtlichen Dokumenten, Fachliteratur und statistischen Register.РезюмеДоступность к данным о преступности, не исключая данные о жертвах преступлений, явля- ется необходимым условием для наиболее эффективного применения государством мер по контролю преступности. Необходимость проведения исследований в отношении жертв преступлений и предоставления им адекватной помощи становится вопросом, обсуждаемым во всем мире. Задачей данной статьи является анализ отдельных данных о жертвах преступлений в Словацкой Республике с помощью количественных и качественных показателей, полученных в результате международного исследовательского проекта, проведенного в Академии полиции в Братиславе под названием Введение в действие Закона о жертвах преступлений в рамках полицейской деятельности и виктимологической практики (исследование № 255). В методологическом плане исследование опиралось на анкету и отдельные методы и приемы научного познания, такие как исторический метод, изучение и анализ правовых документов, профессиональной литературы и статистических отчетов.

The Role of Clientelism in Facilitating Orphanage Trafficking

ABSTRACT Orphanage trafficking involves the recruitment and/or transfer of a child into a residential care facility for a purpose of exploitation, including labor, sexual exploitation and servitude, or child institutionalization for profit. Orphanage trafficking has been recognized as a form of child trafficking under international law and has been increasingly reported in a range of countries, including Cambodia and Myanmar. Despite the growing academic focus on this subject, the specifics of how children are targeted, recruited, and transferred into these unregulated orphanages for exploitation remain largely unclear, as do the precise social mechanisms employed. Drawing on qualitative research, this article delves into the significant role that patron-client relationships play in the recruitment, transfer, exploitation, and concealment of child exploitation within unregulated residential care facilities established for exploitative or profit motives in Cambodia and Myanmar. It reveals how orphanage directors exploit clientelism to circumvent regulations, manipulate and undermine bureaucratic systems meant to protect vulnerable groups, and legitimize illegal activities through a process of formalization. The article explores the implications of the use of clientelism in orphanage trafficking for prevention efforts, child protection governance reforms, and rehabilitation of children whose perception of exploitation and victimization has been shaped by their socialization to clientelism norms.

Gendered Corruption: People's Reactions to Victims of Monetary Versus Sexual Extortion.

This research addresses the important issue of the connection between corruption and gender-based violence, an area that has gained increasing attention in recent years. It provides a new perspective by comparing the perception of victims of monetary corruption versus sexual corruption. Through an experimental study, we exposed participants to a fictitious scenario in which they witnessed an event of sex-based (vs. money-based) extortion. The results showed that the victims' decision to cave into the extortion (both money or sex-based) led to higher feelings of moral outrage and blame toward them, and a weaker moral perception. Moreover, victims were considered less moral and more prone to reputational damage when described as caving into sex-based (vs. money-based) extortion. Finally, a moderated mediation model showed that the reputational damage suffered by the woman also significantly mediated the relation between the decision to cave into the extortion and the helping intentions toward her, but only when the corruption involved sexual payment. These findings provide insights into the perception of victims of both money-based and sex-based extortion, highlighting the significant role of reputational damage and stigma in the context of sextortion.

Third-Party Perceptions of Victims in the Workplace: New Complexities and Opportunities

Third-Party Perceptions of Victims in the Workplace: New Complexities and Opportunities

"I Don't Think a Broken Spirit Can Be Quantified": Perceptions of College Victimization and Its Consequences Among Students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

This study investigated students' perceptions of victimization among college students (e.g., extent, location, consequences) through eight focus groups at a large, urban Hispanic-serving institution. Understanding students' perceptions of crime sheds light on the consequences of victimization as well as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral impacts of the possibility of experiencing victimization. Our results yielded several key findings that warrant further discussion: (1) victimization-particularly sexual and property victimization-is an issue that many students thought about extensively and viewed as important; (2) the psychological impact of victimization and threatened sense of safety were perceived to be enduring consequences of victimization that can impact the college experience; (3) there was nuance to perceptions of "on-" versus "off-" campus victimization, with consequences carrying over to campus life even when incidents occur off campus; and (4) participants expressed both moral and conceptual issues with assigning a dollar amount to consequences of victimization. These results inform how perceptions of victimization risk and anticipated consequences shape student fears and behavior, while also highlighting key areas that universities may consider for prevention and intervention efforts.

Problems in Fulfilling the Rights of Crime Victims Due to Misconceptions of Restitution Terminology

Restitution rights are problematic in fulfilling the rights of victims of crime, mainly due to misconceptions about restitution terminology. This research aims to explore and analyze the misconceptions of restitution terminology by the society and its impact on the fulfillment of the rights of victims of crime using the analysis of Social Construction Theory. This research uses an empirical juridical approach by utilizing primary data in the form questionnaires distributed to community service participants and the focused discussion process in Community Service activities and secondary data in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary legal materials. The findings of this study indicate that the misconception of restitution terminology is formed through the social construction of legal norms on the wrong meaning of restitution terminology These misconceptions take the form of restitution being understood as peace, restitution is the same as compensation and restitution results in the elimination of imprisonment for the perpetrator. These misconceptions have implications for the non-fulfillment of the rights of victims of crime, which will arrise in the difficulty in submitting requests for restitution, the victim's perception of justice is reduced and a negative impact on the victim's recovery process. This misconception will also lead to weak law enforcement against criminal offenders.

Initial tweet valence, abuse volume, and observer Dark Tetrad characteristics influence perceptions of female celebrity abuse on Twitter

Research into relationships between victim-generated content, abuse received, and observer characteristics when considering Twitter abuse has been limited to male victims. We evaluated participant perceptions of female celebrity victims and abuse received on Twitter. We used a 3 (Initial Tweet Valence; negative, neutral, positive) × 2 (Abuse Volume; low, high) repeated measures design and online survey method. Participants were shown tweets generated by six female celebrities, counterbalanced such that each participant saw each celebrity in one Valence-Volume condition. Stimuli were presented across six ‘lists’ such that celebrity ‘victims’ could be rotated across Valence-Volume pairings. Participants rated—per target stimulus—the level of blame attributable to the victim and the perceived severity of the incident. Furthermore, participants were asked to complete a Dark Tetrad scale—measuring their Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sadism. Analyses determined that victim-blaming was influenced by victim Initial Tweet Valence (greater victim-blaming associated with more-negative content) and observer Machiavellianism. Perceived severity was influenced by victim Initial Tweet Valence, Volume of Abuse received, and observer Machiavellianism. Results were consistent with previous research involving male celebrity victims. Further research is needed to understand the contributions of participants’ hostile and benevolent sexism, as well as the role of victim attractiveness.

Book Review: Leigh Goodmark, Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism. University of California Press. 2023.

Leigh Goodmark’s Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition, seems to rupture any idealistic views of a protective and just criminal legal system. Instead, Goodmark introduces readers to the nitty gritty underside of laws, policies, and legal processes put into place to protect the most vulnerable. In this work, Goodmark apprises readers of the cycle of victimization that survivors of violence are subjected to within the criminal justice realm. Offering true narratives and statistics along with eye-opening insights, Goodmark illustrates the means by which women, trans, and non-confirming individuals are subjected to criminalization by the justice system in the form of state interventions intended to protect them. This work pushes readers to challenge their perceptions of victims and offenders while asking them to embrace the idea that the justice system is inherently flawed. Goodmark, however, does not leave readers hopeless and empty-handed as she offers abolition feminism as the remedy to the institutionalized challenges faced by criminalized survivors. Imperfect Victims aims to give voice to victims of gender-based violence and dismantle the system that continues to victimize them.

Perceptions of the freezing response of male and female rape victims, and the moderating role of rape myth beliefs

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether indicating victims of sexual attacks actively resisted their attacker or froze during their assault affected perceptions of victim blame, perpetrator blame and seriousness of the crime. We also tested whether victim and perpetrator gender or participants’ rape myth endorsement moderated the outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis study was a cross-sectional, vignette survey study with a 2 × 2 between-participants experimental design. Participants read a mock police report describing an alleged rape with a female or male victim who either resisted or froze, while perpetrator gender was adjusted heteronormatively.FindingsFreezing and male victims were blamed more than resisting and female victims. Perpetrators were blamed more when the victim resisted, but male and female perpetrators were blamed equally. Seriousness of the crime was higher for male perpetrators and when the victim resisted. Female, but not male, rape myth acceptance moderated the relationship between victim behaviour and outcome variables.Originality/valueThis study highlights the influence of expectations about victim behaviour on perceptions of rape victims and the pervasive influence of rape myths when evaluating female rape victims. The data is drawn from the German border region of the Netherlands, which is an especially valuable population given the evolving legal definitions of rape in both countries.

Measuring the shortage cost through deprivation and envy in collaborating contract between the local authority and the enterprise

Collaboration between the local authority and the enterprise is important when facing more frequent disasters and pandemics, and contract design is a key step. However, most designed contracts in relevant studies fail to precisely measure the shortage cost of relief supplies as they ignore the perceptions of victims, i.e., deprivation due to lacking relief supplies and envy due to unequal allocation. To fill the research gap, in this paper, we use the sum of deprivation (measured by deprivation cost, Holguin-Veras et al., 2012) and envy (measured by negative inequity aversion, Fehr and Schmidt, 1999) to calculate the shortage cost in contract design between the local authority and the enterprise. We then analyze three different contexts (i.e., low-risk, high-risk, mixed) based on the background of Covid-19 lock-down in China and conduct a corresponding numerical experiment. The result shows that through a Stackelberg game the local authority and the enterprise can reach an agreement. Furthermore, deprivation and envy have the same effect on the contract design, based on which the local authority will decrease the relief items shortage to mitigate the suffering of victims, thus represents a ‘people-centered’ idea.

Politicizing Memory: Evidence from Ukraine

ABSTRACT Research shows that people’s perceptions of historical violence shape many present-day outcomes. Yet it is also plausible that people emphasize or downplay certain events of the past based on how these resonate with their beliefs and identities today. With a population of diverse orientations involving Russia and Europe, Ukraine in 2019 was an important case for exploring how people’s present geopolitical orientations shaped perceptions of victimization in World War II. Drawing on a survey experiment, we find evidence for “motivated reasoning” among Western-oriented respondents, who emphasized their family’s suffering in World War II when faced with information that attributed blame to the Soviet regime. We find no evidence for motivated reasoning among the Russian-oriented respondents.

“I Know It is a Stereotype, but People Love to See It”: Chinese Journalists’ Perceptions of Sexual Violence Victims

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concept of framing, this paper investigates the perspectives of Chinese journalists on sexual violence against women. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Chinese journalists from official, commercial, and freelance media outlets. The study identified two primary frames relating to female victims of sexual violence: the “idealness” of victims and the newsworthiness of victims. The paper examines how these frames relate to China’s socio-economic, cultural, and organisational context. It is argued that the perceptions and news values of Chinese journalists regarding sexual violence are influenced by both macro-level factors—such as socio-economic, organisational, and cultural factors, and micro-level factors, such as the journalists’ professional reputation and personal values. This interplay of factors results in the symbolic erasure of certain victims of sexual violence. The findings of this study underscore the importance of examining the cognitive frames journalists use when reporting on sexual violence, identifying key factors that influence their reporting. In doing so, the study contributes to existing literature on the framing of women’s issues.

Department of Anesthesiology Skilled Peer Support Program Outcomes: Second Victim Perceptions

Most anesthesia providers experience an adverse event during their training or career. Limited evidence suggests skilled peer support programs (SPSPs) reduce initial distress and support adaptive functioning and coping. This study evaluated second victim perceptions of a voluntary SPSP. An SPSP was developed and implemented for all clinical and administrative personnel in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in three hospitals and six outpatient surgery centers in December 2017. The program incorporated the Scott Three-Tiered Interventional Model of Second Victim Support. Surveys were offered to clinicians in the department prior to implementation of the SPSP and again 18 months after implementation. Among the subset of respondents who experienced a serious adverse patient event, the authors used multiple logistic regression models that adjusted for role and number of night shifts per month to examine differences in perceived resource availability and post-event support received following implementation of the program. There were 94 surveys (83 complete; 11 partially complete) collected prior to implementation and 84 surveys (67 complete; 17 partially complete) collected after implementation. A total of 25 individuals took the survey at both pre and post (19 complete). After implementation, 62.5% of respondents indicated that institutional support had improved since the occurrence of their serious adverse patient event. Statistical models identified a significant improvement in the probability that a clinician agreed with the statement "I think that the organization learned from the event and took appropriate steps to reduce the chance of it happening again" at post vs. pre (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-15.1. A statistically significant increase from pre to post in the perceived availability of formal emotional support was identified (aOR 5.2, 95% CI 1.9-22.5). Implementation of a skilled peer support program within a large department of anesthesiology can improve institutional-based emotional support.

Are Victims Virtuous or Vilified? The Stories We Tell Ourselves (and Each Other)

Derogation of the victim refers to the tendency of an observer to negatively evaluate someone hurt by the action of another. Victim derogation has been a core feature of social psychology for decades, but evidence suggests this phenomenon is weakening. It may even be reversing into a valorization of victims. Is this empirical pattern due to methodological changes and shifts in theoretical framing of victim studies, or have there been large-scale cultural changes in how we view victims? This review outlines the theoretical and methodological origins of the derogation effect. It then discusses contemporary research streams that show the malleability of victim perception in research that considers the entire harmful social interaction. These studies suggest that shifts in broader social, political, and cultural environments may have impacted the social psychological foundations of derogation.

Citizen Perceptions of Crime and Their Effect on Support for Illiberal Democratic Rule

In developing countries, perceptions of crime and actual crime victimization have been linked to less public support for democratic regimes. In countries with weak democratic institutions and limited horizontal accountability, populist presidents can exploit this situation by promoting vertical accountability. This vulnerability of democratic institutions arises because some citizens perceive strong-arm rule as a solution to the perceived increase in social violence. This study focuses on the Philippines, where president Rodrigo Duterte was elected in 2016 on a “law and order” platform centered on an extralegal war on drugs. Analyzing data from two waves of the World Values Survey, I find that perceptions of crime significantly influenced Filipino respondents’ support for authoritarian rule and reduced support for democracy based on civil liberties; the effect became more pronounced under the Duterte administration. Notably, actual crime victimization was not statistically correlated with preference for authoritarianism.

Assessing the Impact of Media on Blaming the Victim of Acquaintance Rape

Along with the direct trauma of their experience, many rape victims also suffer secondary victimization due to the tendency of others to blame victims for their assault, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape. We explored the role of news media coverage in promoting victim blaming tendencies. In Study 1, a content analysis of articles reporting sexual assaults from two newspapers revealed a tendency for media to overreport stranger rapes and underreport acquaintance rapes, perpetuating the stranger rape as “real rape” prototype. More victim blaming language was also used in reports of acquaintance rape than stranger rape. Perceivers responded to these differences; a high victim blaming news article resulted in greater victim blaming compared to an article low in victim blame content (Study 2 and 3), and exposure to a high blaming article produced greater victim blaming in a subsequent unrelated case of rape and increased endorsement of rape myths (Study 3). These findings demonstrate the importance of the media in shaping public perception of rape victims, particularly in cases of acquaintance rape, and suggest that news media, legislators, and other visible communicators can change the culture of victimization through intentional efforts to delegitimize rape stereotypes in their reporting and dialogs.