NCJ Number
135704
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Victimology is both an academic field and a modern social movement and involves two fundamentally different theoretical approaches; one is based on Mendelsohn's view that victimology is an independent academic discipline that includes accidents and natural disasters as well as crimes, while the other rests on von Hentig's view that victimology is a subfield of criminology and concerned with crime only.
Abstract
The two approaches contain different research areas, start from different theoretical assumptions, and, in some cases, lead to different practical implications. They consider the victim prior to the victimization process, during the situation of primary victimization, and in terms of reaction to the victimization. Although victimological research can aid the understanding and recording of criminal offenses, and overemphasis on victims can result in criminality being dramatized and emotionalized. Such result could endanger the possibility of rehabilitating and resocializing offenders. 70 references