What is Victimology

1. What is Victimology Presentation to the 2009 Asian Postgraduate Course by Prof. Dr. Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff Tokiwa International Institute of Victimology Tokiwa Graduate School of Victimology Drawings by Takada Hiromi Tokiwa Daigaku Mito shi Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

2. Introduction • Victimology as a social science • Normative thinking and social science thinking • Why lawyers love law and why victims do not love lawyers • What does the word mean? • Who is the victim? Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

3. Topics of Discussion • The three dimensions of Victimology • Definition of Victimology • Talk about details of definition Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

4. Law and Social Science • What do lawyers know? • They know the law • They apply the law • Only if facts fit the law  consequences • Crim.-law uses action related words, not victim related word. • lawyers know “nothing about victims” Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

5. Lawyers and relevant facts • Lawyers work in the criminal justice system • They use laws which exist already • Only then they are successful • Law does not need all pieces of reality • Lawyers needs only some • Rest is superfluous and irrelevant • In his system they are superfluous •  lawyer becomes ignorant • He is interested in catching all possibilities in his system Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

6. Social science thinking • Looking at all probabilities • interested in probabilities • What has the highest probability of occurrence • Patterns, regularities: they become his “law” • Despite his “laws”, he knows that his statement imply the existence of the opposite • That makes him open and careful • His truth is always “insecure” Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

7. Resulting difficulties • Different subcultures of law and of social sciences • Different way of thinking • Different way of talking • Different way of self definition • The necessity of creating a social movement to promote victim interests • Personal experience Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

8. What does the word mean? • Victima Latin victim • Logos Greek science • teaching • An organized body of knowledge about victims • Who used this concept first? • Beniamin Mendelsohn 29th March1947 • Printed 1956 in French • Hans von Hentig 1938?? • Wertham 1956 Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

9. Who is the victim? • 4 answers given • Historically first answer 1764 • Victims of crime  special v. • Victims of everything  general v. • Manmade victims  • v. of Human Rights Violations • includingcrime Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

10. 1. Victims of Abuse of Power 1 • Cesare Beccaria 1764 • Abuse of power by the powerful • Trough their use of criminal law • Torture • Of suspects and witnesses • Witch “trials” • “creative” punishment • “Contract Social” Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

11. 1. Victims of Abuse of Power 2 • How can we protect us against this victimizing criminal law? • Give offender rights! • The “Dogma of the Divided Territory” Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

12. Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

13. 1. Victims of Abuse of Power 3 • How can we involve the victim in this vertical system of justice? • German Code of Criminal Procedure • Right to start the procedure – police report • Right to testify in court – right? • Right of “side prosecution” • Right of “private prosecution” • Right to court checking prosecutor’s denial of public interest • Right of adhesion procedure (since the thirties) Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

14. 2. Special Victimology1 • Hans von Hentig 1948 • “The Criminal and his Victim” • Stephan Schafer 1958 • “The Victim and his Criminal” • Restitution • Compensation •  special victimology • Part of Criminology Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

15. 2. Special Victimology2 Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

16. 3. General Victimology 1 • Beniamin Mendelsohn 1947, 1956 and further • Term “Victim” includes • Victims of traffic accidents • Victims of motorized environment • Victims of earthquakes and thunderstorms • Victims of everything damaging • Victims of genocide and of crime etc. • Result: General Victimology Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

17. 3. General Victimology 2 • Mendelsohn’s demands for victimology • Focus on victims, on their suffering, on their treatment • Create an International Journal of Victimology • Create an Institute of Victimology • Create an International Society of Victimology • Conduct International Symposia and conferences • Establish Victimological Clinics • ( Enter the University Lecture Halls!) • (International Courses on Victimology) Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

18. General Victimology 3 Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

19. 4. Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime)1 • Separovic, Zvonimir Paul 1969 – 1985 publications • “manmade victims” • Human action • Omission to act coupled with obligation to act • Victimizations are violations of basic Human Rights • To life • To health • To security • To well being • Victims can be • People • Organizations • Groups • Ethnics Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

20. 4. Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime)2 • Neuman, Elias • Three volumes in Spanish • 1984 Victimologia • 1986 Victimologia e control social • 1996 Victimologia supranacional • Publications in Spanish • World of social science speaks English • Spanish contributions not read • Similar with Japanese contributions • Necessity to study and understand English • Efforts of Tokiwa Daigakku • Government calls in 2000 English teachers in 2003 • Victimology and Victim Assistance far advanced • In USA • In England • In Netherlands Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

21. 4. Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime)3 • Victimology and Victim Assistance far advanced in USA, England, among other countries. • If Japan wants to learn from these experiences, it is necessary to study the pertaining documents in English • Otherwise we depend on experts who come and sell us their ideas • How can we know • Whether these ideas are universal and therefore important for Japan? • Whether these ideas are just local, good for other culture? • German experience • Without analyzing and understanding Anglo-American victim assistance • We would not be where we are now • Learning impossible without understanding Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

22. 4.Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime) 4 • Elias Neumann since 1984 • Victims are • Persons • Community • Whole nations • Victimologia supranacional • Victimization by destabilizing governments • Victimization by exploiting economically weaker nations Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

23. 4.Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime) 5 • Topics: • Victims of conventional crime and of new types of crime • Environmental pollution • Victims of ethnocide • Falsification of products • Medication • Food • Illegitimate trade of war weapons • Abuse of governmental power • Terrorism • Censorship • Religion Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

24. 4.Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime) 6 • Robert Elias 1986 and later • “The Politics of Victimization. Victims, Victimology and Human Rights” • Combination of the three concepts • Advantage 1: • Victimology has the theoretical structure which is lacking in Human Rights • Advantage 2 • Victimology gains the necessary broad scope Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

25. 4.Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime) 7 • UN Declaration 1985 • WSV 1983 • General Assembly • Declaration on Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power • Result: Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

26. 4. Victimology of Human Rights Violations (including Crime) 8 Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

27. Defining Victimology: scope • Victimology looks at • Victims • Victimizations • The process of becoming a victim • The situation of being a victim • Reactions to victims and to victimization • Here is the most practical part of victimology • Informal reactions • Formal reactions Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

28. Defining Victimology : 2 • Victimology is the scientific study of • victims of Human Right violations including crime • victimizations • And of the reactions to both • To victims • To victimizations Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

29. Defining Victimology : 3 • Victimology • Defines • Describes • Measures • Analyzes • Interprets • Patterns, regularities and associations • Causal relationships and probabilities • Develops theoretical statements • For understanding and prediction • For developing counter measures Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

30. Purpose of Victimology : • “The purpose is, to contribute to a world with less victimization. If victimization cannot be prevented, then the consequences have to be less burdening. • If our science does not contribute to this, what use does it have then?” Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

31. Measurement 2 • How many are there? • Is the risk equal • Over time? • Over region? • Over gender • Murder of the lady in Shinso • What goes hand in hand with victimization? • Social correlates of victimization Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

32. Measurement • Who is the victim? • How many are there? • Methods of empirical research • Not armchair victimology • Go out and look at reality!!!! • How many victims are in Mito? • How many victims are in Tokiwa Daigakku? • TIVI: how many students have been victims of sexual crimes? Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

33. Who is the victim? • Who is victimized? • Direct victim • The murdered lady last month • Indirect victims • The victim “behind” the victim • Family members • Friends • Colleagues • Neighbors • Members of the community • Whole nation Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

34. Result of victimization 1 • What is the result of victimization? What kind of damages do we look at? • Emotional damage • Physical damage • Material damage Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

35. Howdid the event happen? 1 • Process of becoming a victim • Raid • Confrontational • Distance • Relational • Stranger • Acquaintance • Friend • Family member • Lover • Stepwise victimizations Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

36. Howdid the event happen? Single ./. Repeat victimization1 • Single victimization • Victimology is interested in the single victimization (criminological theories are often theories on recidivism). • Single victimization can cause crisis and can call for victim assistance, restitution, compensation • Repeat victimization • Many victimizations are repeated experiences of • Sexual abuse of children, Domestic violence • Tyrannization in school (bullying), Violence (“Subculture of Violence” • Violations of Basic Human Rights • Calling not only for victim assistance, but for institutional and for structural reforms • (good field to demonstrate that victimology is an interdisciplinary science) Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

37. Reactions 1 • Distinguish between • Primary victimization • That are all the negative reactions caused by the action of the offender • Secondary victimization • That are all the damages caused by the reactions of the social environment Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

38. Reactions 2 • The reacting social environment • Husbands, parents, family members • Girl friends, boy friends, lovers • Colleagues • Neighbors • Community • If their reaction damages, we speak of SECONDARY VICTIMIZATION Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

39. Reactions 3 • We cannot undo the primary victimization. • We can influence the amount of secondary victimization!! • We get upset if we believe these victimizations are superfluous • We want to be careful if we know that secondary victimization is highly probable • Why do these secondary victimization occur so frequently? Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

40. Reactions 3 • “Just World Theory” • Californian psychologist , in since the seventies of last century • Why do victims experience • Unfriendliness • Rejection • Even hostility • Why do not we want to deal with victims usually? • We believe in a just world • So, nothing happens to us, right? • If something bad happens to the victim, we define: • The victim must have done something wrong • So, we blame • Blaming does not help – it hurts even deeper Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

41. Reactions 4 • “Just World Theory” • We never ask: ”WHY did you do so?” • If you would have done differently, you would not be in this situation – so you are blamed! • We never tell how WE would have acted. • Of course we would have acted more wisely! Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

42. Reactions6 • Stereotyped constant uniform reactions of environment • Social structures • Willem Hendrik Nagel 1944 (1948) • “Structural Victimization” • One of the earliest empirical research • “Crime of People of Os” print 1948 • Victimization of Women • By stubborn male insistence on supremacy and control over women Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

43. Reactions 7 • “ai” • “Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds” 2001 • Report looks at victimization of women in cases of • Domestic violence as mistreatment or torture • Torture and mistreatment of household helpers • Live in forced marriages • “defending the honor of the family” • Human Trafficking • Debt\Servitude (debt slavery) • Female Genital Mutilation • Withholding the protection of law Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

44. Reactions 8 • Victimization of women by • Withholding the protection of law • For victims of trafficking of women • For victims of rape • Pakistan rape law • Nigeria Ms. Awal • Police not investigating properly • Indian dowry cases • Japan case: 6 month stalking, reported to police, results in murder of victim Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

45. Reactions 9 • Victimization of women by • Sexist beliefs of judges • Social and cultural discrimination • Torture of women in custody • Sexual victimization of women in custody • Sexual war slavery of women in occupied countries • Torture of women in armed conflicts • Tutsi 1994, Yugoslavia 1991-1995, Guatemala 70ties, Algeria 90ties, Sierra Leone 1999-2003, Philippines 2000 Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

46. Reactions 10 • Victimization of women by • Disappearances • Direct and indirect victimization • Torture of women who have to flee • While seeking asylum • It is proven that worldwide victims, especially women, are victims by those men who have control over them and that authorities either cause or tolerate these abuses Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

47. Reactions 11 • Victimization of men • In socially completely accepted areas • Victim of draft system • Victims of military slavery • Victims of medical treatment • Till now: who reacts? • In next section: what kinds of reactions do we look at? Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

48. Reactions 12 • Two kinds of reactions • Informal reactions • These are reactions which are free of prescribed rules and norms • Formal reactions • These are reactions which are prescribed by laws and by norms • They are “formally laid down” in writing Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

49. Reactions informal 1 • Recall: Victimizations are invasions into the self of the victim • Imagine the person as an “onion” • Layers around a soft center • Victimizations are like needles piercing through different layers • By this you understand • Rank order of victimizations according to severity Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

50. Reactions informal 2 • 2. We live with fictions • We tell us stories about ourselves and about life • E.g.sexual victimization • Without the protection of these fictions, we cannot function socially Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff