Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims, the relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system—that is, the police and courts, and corrections officials—and the connections between victims and other social groups and institutions, such as the media, businesses, and social movements.
Victim of a crime In criminology and criminal law, a victim of a crime is an identifiable person who has been harmed individually and directly by the perpetrator, rather than by society as a whole. However, this may not always be the case, as with victims of white collar crime, who may not be clearly identifiable or directly linked to a crime against a particular individual. Victims of white-collar crime are often denied their status as victims by the social construction of the concept. The Supreme Court of the United States first recognized the rights of crime victims to make a victim impact statement during the sentencing phase of a criminal trial in the case of Payne v. Tennessee (1991). A victim impact panel, which usually follows the victim impact statement, is a form of community-based or restorative justice in which the crime victims (or relatives and friends of deceased crime victims) meet with the defendant after conviction to tell the convict about how the criminal activity affected them, in the hope of rehabilitation or deterrence.
Theories Richard Quinney has argued that "the victim" is a social construct because, for a person to be labeled a victim, some form of societal agreement must exist. Societal power dynamics affect collective perceptions of victimization. Nils Christie classifies "ideal victims" as those most likely to obtain "the complete and legitimate status of being a victim" when harmed. Christie writes that this is most likely to occur when the victim is perceived as weak, was participating in a reputable activity, not seen as accountable for playing a part in their victimization, and the offender is large and evil and not known to the victim.
Consequences of crimes Emotional distress as a result of crime is a recurring theme for all victims of crime. The most common problems, affecting three-quarters of victims, were psychological problems, including fear, anxiety, nervousness, self-blame, anger, shame, and difficulty sleeping. These problems often result in the development of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Post-crime distress is also linked to pre-existing emotional problems and sociodemographic variables. This has been known to become a leading case of older people being more adversely affected. Victims may experience the following psychological reactions:
Increase in the realization of personal vulnerability. The perception of the world as meaningless and incomprehensible. They view themselves in a negative light. The experience of victimization may result in increasing fear on the part of the victim and the spread of fear in the community.
Victim proneness
Environmental theory The environmental theory posits that the location and context of the crime bring the victim of the crime and its perpetrator together. Research published between 2010 and 2025 gives some credence to this theory. Studies in the early 2010s showed that crime is negatively correlated with trees in urban environments; more trees in an area are associated with lower victimization or violent crime rates. This relationship was established by studies in 2010 in Portland, Oregon and in 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. Geoffrey Donovan of the United States Forest Service (USFS), one of the researchers, said, "trees, which provide a range of other benefits, could improve quality of life in Portland by reducing crime..." because "We believe that large street trees can reduce crime by signaling to a potential criminal that a neighborhood is better cared for and, therefore, a criminal is more likely to be caught." Note that the presence of large street trees especially indicated a crime reduction, as opposed to newer, smaller trees. In the 2012 Baltimore study, led by scientists from the University of Vermont and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a "conservative spatially adjusted model indicated that a 10% increase in tree canopy was associated with a roughly 12% decrease in crime.... [and] we found that the inverse relationship continued in both contexts, but the magnitude was 40% greater for public than for private lands." A study in the 2020s showed a strong positive association between "routine maintenance and repair of urban public places (e.g., street construction projects) with a reduction in community violence, proxied by violent crime incidents." Conversely, a study in the 2020s, showed a strong positive correlation between vacant, abandoned, or "cited" properties with family violence. Researchers at Tulane University found about child neglect and intimate partner violence (IPV) that:
The likelihood of experiencing child maltreatment at 12 months of age was more than twice as high for children living in neighborhoods with high vacant and cited property rates compared with women living in neighborhoods with fewer vacant and cited properties (OR = 2.11, 95% CI = 1.03, 4.31). Women living in neighborhoods characterized by high levels of vacant and cited properties were also more than twice as likely to report IPV (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.21, 5.25). Associations remained mostly stable after controlling for key covariates.
Quantification of victim-proneness There have been recent studies to quantify the actual existence of victim-proneness. Contrary to the popular belief that more women are repeat victims, and thus more victim-prone than men, actually men in their prime (15- to 34-year-old males) are more likely to be victims of repeated crimes. In the case of juvenile offenders, the study results also show that people are more likely to be victimized as a result of a serious offense by someone they know; the most frequent crimes committed by adolescents towards someone they know were sexual assault, common assault, and homicide. Adolescents victimizing people they did not know generally committed common assault, forcible confinement, and armed or unarmed robbery. Sex workers are, anecdotally, thought to have an abnormally high incidence of violent crime committed against them, and such crimes frequently go unresolved, but there are few victimological studies of the matter.
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