The two major themes of the text are the ways in which the media, public discourse, and political responses to crime construct the victim role and the experience of victimization in the context of everyday life experiences. Individual chapters explain how media coverage forms public images of victimization and examine the public discussion of victim characteristics, the development of victim issues and laws, and the influence of victim groups on public opinion and the political agenda. Additional chapters focus on how policing agencies and victim surveys inform the debate about the crime and victimization, victimization theories that discuss opportunities and interactions that lead to victim outcomes, the victimization experience, context as increased risk and exposure to crime, the interaction between the victim and the offender, and the actions of police and medical personnel in responding to the crime. Further chapters examine the physical and psychological impacts of victimization and discuss how the criminal justice system and victim support groups work with the victim in adjudicating the guilt of the offender and exploring the possibilities for restitution to the victim. Themes explored include victim blame, its influences in how seriously the public considers a crime, crime as a low-frequency experience concentrated in certain groups, and the definable trends and processes in the ways in which victims experience crime and the criminal justice system responds to them. Boxes containing excerpts of other documents, index, and approximately 400 references