NCJ Number
136745
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1992) Pages: 258-271
Date Published
1992
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Traditional victimology does not currently offer a critique of its conceptions or its own use of the victim nor define victims in any other concept than the legalistic conception of victim. The expansion of victimology is needed in order for the discipline to proceed in a critical manner.
Abstract
Radical victimology which argues that current images of victimology, which involve the State rather than the victim, serve a conservative crime control agenda and have increased the power of the State in criminal proceedings. Radical victimology can be used to explain social reactions to crime and crime victims and to explore society's preference for truly innocent victims and the limited ability of the system to avenge them through victim assistance programs. Victimologists must learn to analyze the role of the victim in furthering the interests of police and prosecutors as well as the interests of the media and capitalist business enterprises. Radical victimologists are also interested in examining the extended victimization of the offender's family by the criminal justice system. 8 notes and 33 references (Author abstract modified)