Theoretical Victimology

1. Theoretical Victimology by Prof. Dr. Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff

2. Victimology as a Science • Victimology as word: • Victima Latin, the victim • Logos body of theoretical knowledge, teaching Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

3. Victimology • A theoretical body of knowledge • This is not • practical victim assistance • a political movement • creation of social programs • victim related legislation • Practical application of victimologiocal knowledge Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

4. Basic Structure of Victimology • Dealing with • Victims • Victimizations • Reactions to both, • To victims • To victimizations Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

5. Who is theVICTIM? • Answer 1: • Victims of crime • Hans von Hentig • Stephen Schafer • Ezzat Fattah • Result: • special victimology • penal victimology • superfluous endeavor! Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

6. Who is the VICTIM • Answer 2: • Victims of everything • Benjamin Mendelsohn Result: General Victimology To overcrowded and therefore empty Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

7. Who is the VICTIM • Answer 3: • Menmade victims • Zvonimir Paul Separovic • Elias Neumann • Robert Elias • Gerd F. Kirchhoff Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

8. victimologia - Victimologia • victimologia = science of the crime victims • Victimologia – toda victima social • Poverty • Marginalization • Creation of masses excluded from decent living • Excluded from hospitals, schools, labor market • Victims of globalization Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

9. Elias Neuman I • Victimologia – el rol de la victima en los delitos convencionales y no convencionales • 2nd ed. 1994 • The poor, the marginalized, • The socially submerged • Victims of political systems and ideologies • Victims of religions • Victims of the justice system • Victims of slavery and inhuman labor conditions Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

10. Elias Neuman II 1994 • Victimology is an autonomous science if it looks at all the • victims of abuse of power, • national or supranational, • Victims of all oppression and terrorism in a society, • as individuals, • groups or • All people in a country. • Answer 4: • Victims of Human Rights Violations Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

11. Robert Elias • Criminal victimization • Social sources of victimization • Governmental sources of victimization • Framework of Human Rights • Critical of traditional victimology: • Law and order lobby has coopted victim assistance • Victims have gained far less than promised • Consumer frauds, poluution, unnecessarý drugs and surgery, food additives, discrimination, poverty, exploitation and war Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

12. Answer 5: Victims of disaster and climate change • Victimology includes victims of disaster and natural catastrophes including climate change • Newest Development since 10 years, mainly • Dussich Fachry, Mundy, Susetyo • Local: geographic situation in danger zone • Relationship to the newest UN discussions that look at global sources of Human (In-) Security • Social Consequences of Human Omissions to Secure Safe Life” - more publications needed Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

13. Towards „Interim“ Consensus • 1985 Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power • One of the most important achievements of „victimology“ • Deals with crime victims and with victims of „Abuse of Power“ • Attempts to create a Victim Convention • Self Awareness of WSV „You are not alone“ Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

14. Victimology defines • Who is the victim? • Important if you have special legislation which gives victims some benefits • Schneider: When threatened by a criminal act, the victim may be • A person • An organization • The moral order • The legal system Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

15. Victims • Only humans? No (Wolfgangs first order victims) • Organizations (Wolfgang´s second order victims) • Private companies, unicorporated associations, • Trade unions • Government bodies • State (Wolfgang´s third order victims) • Tax fraud, espionage • International order • Crimes against humanity – The Tribunal in the Hague Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

16. Victimology measures • Entrance gate for the Methods of Empirical Research • Problems of measuring victimization Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

17. Victimology measures Victimizations: the experience of being a victim • Three dimensions of damage • Victim Surveys • Who, what, when, which consequences How many victims are out there.... • Is the risk of victimization evenly distributed • Over time • Over area • Over sex • Over age • What goes together with victimization? • Social correlates of victimization Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

18. Victimology measures Victimizations • the experience of being a victim • Victim Surveys • See special presentation in this course • Who, what, when, which consequences How many viuctims are out there.... • Is the risk of victimization evenly distributed • Over time • Over area • Over sex • Over age • What goes together with victimization? • Social correlates of victimization Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

19. Victimology scientific definition, description, measurement, anylyses of patterns, of regularities, of associative and maybe causal relationships and probabilities and their interpretation.

20. Reactions • Victimology looks at reactions towards victimization -central topic in this field- Social sciences work on different levels of analysis • Situational level • Institutional level • Macro-level Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

21. Reactions • Reactions of the victim • Primary victimization • Reactions of the social auditorium • Secondary victimization • Reactions permanently patterned • Social structures: structural victimization Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

22. Reactions • It is proven that worldwide women especially are victimized by those men who have control over them and that authorities either cause or tolerate these abuses • Domestic violence • Women in custody • Systematic rapes in wars and in civil unrest Quoted from ai: Broken Bodies, Shattered Minds-Torture and Ill Treatment of Women, 2March 2001 Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

23. Victim´s Informal Reactions • Crisis • Crisis Reactions • Crisis Intervention • Entrance door for the whole system of victim treatment: • Counseling • Crisis Intervention Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff

24. Formal Reactions • Victim Assistance Services • Criminal Justice System • Restorative Justice • Transitional Justice Jakarta 2011 - Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff