Michael O’Connell Commissioner for Victims’ Rights TOT Victimology & Victim Assistance LPSK 18-28 Maret 2013

1. Scope of Victimology Michael O’ConnellCommissioner for Victims’ RightsTOT Victimology & Victim AssistanceLPSK 18-28 Maret 2013

2. Lecture Outline • What is Victimology? • Who is a victim? • What is the scope of victimology? • Who is a victim (of crime / of abuse of power)? • How is criminal (scientific) victimology associated with the victims (social) movement?

3. What is Victimology? • Victima – meaning, a person (or animal) killed or sacrificed to a god or gods; a person injured or destroyed by another person, and also a ‘scapegoat’) • ‘ology’ meaning study of, so victimology is the study of the victim, victimisation, reactions and effects of victimisation • Social science - to diagnose the situation, to interpret the situation, to prevent undesired situations and to suggest ways of creating desired situations (Holyst 1982)

4. What is victimology? • Victimisation is not unique to modern times; it also concerned ancient societies.The idea of studying this phenomenon, however, the ‘traditional view’ is that the scientific study of victims and victimisation arose as recently as the 1940s.Since then, there has been much activity in the study of victimisation, particularly criminal victimisation.Victims’ needs as well as the causes of victimisation and the responses to as well as effects of victimisation have been the objects of empirical research and analysis.

5. Who is a victim? • The Latin word victima literally meant “a well-grown beast” but later came to mean a person or animal killed or sacrificed to a god or gods; a person injured or destroyed by another person, and also a scapegoat. • Over the centuries, the word victim has meant a jilted lover, a hapless dupe and a weakling – notions that victimologists tend to reject. • In modern English usage a victim is a person who suffers some deprivation, disadvantage, loss or harm due to any cause, for example, a disease such as cancer, a natural event such as an earthquake; and an accidental or deliberate act or omission.

6. What is the scope of victimology • The sources of victimisation: • Non-human • Natural disaster • Disease • Predatory animal • Human • Self • Other • Criminal • Civil • Structural

7. What is the scope of victimology? • Knudten (1992) differentiates the parameters of victimology in terms of the three elements of crimes, accident-disasters and abuse of power. These classes could overlap — some abuses of power are also criminal offences; some accidents might results from, for example, breaches of environmental or work-safety laws.According to Friday (1992, p11), Knudten “incorporates nearly every contingency” of victimisation but his proposal also “explains all and it explains nothing”.

8. What is the scope of victimology? • A human rights approach: • Separovic (1974, 1982) wrote about victims as persons threatened, injured or destroy by an act or omission of another man, structure, organization or institution (Fachri Bey 2011). • Neuman (1984, 1994) wrote about “victims of human rights violations” (Kirchhoff 2012) • Elias (1986; 1994) argued that victims and victimisation have been defined too narrowly and argued for human rights approach

9. What is the scope of victimology? • Gosita, Dr Arif (Indonesia) wrote about victims of violence and the development of services for these victims (see 1994) • Sahetapy, Professor Jacob (Indonesia) wrote about victims of abuse of power (see 1994), and victims of environmental crime in Indonesia (1988) • Bey, Dr Fachri (Indonesia) lectured on child victims in Indonesia (2011) and the development of victimology: an Indonesia perspective (2010). • Susetyo, Heru (Indonesia) writes about victims of disasters (natural and human made)(see 2012)

10. What is the scope of (contemporary) victimology? • Dussich (2012) said, “From the causal perspective, the injuring force precedes the awareness of the victim. … [we are] interested in studying the victim and those conditions related to the victim.” “Thus, the contemporary focus of [victimological] studies are: vulnerability, interactions with injuring forces, extent of impact by the force, methods of coping with the force and the environment, the resulting injuries, the methods of treating victims …” • Kirchhoff (2012) would likely add that those studies also include: reactions or responses to the injuring force.

11. What is the scope of victimology? • Garkawe (2004) summarised the debate on the scope of victimology. He distinguished the study of victims of crime, victims of human-rights violations and victims of everything. He showed that these categories are not necessarily exclusive.Conceivably, victimology spans the plight of individuals and collectivities of people who suffer deprivation, disadvantage, loss or injury due to any cause. It is evident, however, that victims of crime are widely accepted as within the scope of victimology and that victimologists have put more effort into studying victims of crime.

12. Who is a victim (of crime)? • Bayley (1991, p. 53) says a person is a victim only if: • (1) he or she has suffered a loss or some significant decrease in well-being unfairly or undeservedly and in such manner that he or she was helpless to prevent the loss;(2) the loss has an identifiable cause; and(3) the legal or moral context of the loss entitles the sufferer of the loss to social concern. • These conditions are a useful, although incomplete, guide to the concept of a victim of crime.

13. Who is a victim (of crime)? • Based on Bayley’s conditions of victimhood, discuss the contention that: • a police officer who is assaulted while performing a lawful duty is not a victim, • a drug-dealer who is stabbed during the drug deal is not a victim, • the innocent family members of a murderer are victims.

14. Who is a victim (of crime and abuse of power)? • The United Nations’ (1985, p. 1) developed a broader definition: • That a victim of crime is an individual or collectivity of people harmed “through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws ... including those proscribing abuse of power.”

15. Who are victims of conventional crime? • Victim of assault (threat or actual touching) • Victim of sexual offence (indecent assault; rape) • Victim of homicide (murder or manslaughter) • Victim of dishonesty (theft or fraud) • Victim of robbery (with or without violence)

16. Who are victims of unconventional crime? • Victim of racism (such as apartheid) • Victim of e-crime (for example cyber-crime) • Victim of slavery (for example sexual servitude) • Victim of trafficking (for example labor exploitation) • Victim of crime against humanity (for example genocide) • Victim of white-collar offences (for example occupational health and safety violations)

17. Who are victims of unconventional crime? • Victim of terrorism (such as politically motivated violence) • Victim of organized crime (such as drug dealing) • Victim of abuse of power • Victim of maladministration (such as the global economic crisis) • Victim of corruption • Victim of environmental crime (such as illegal logging)

18. Who is a victim (of crime)? • Criminal victimisation can also be divided into levels: • Primary victims are directly affected by an offence. • Secondary victims are people that have some relationship with the primary victim and are emotionally and/or financially dependent on them (e.g. a child, parent or spouse). • Tertiary victims are persons whose lifestyles have been inconvenienced by excessive fear and those persons (e.g. consumers and tax-payers) who have to bear the cost to society of crime (see chapter 4). In this sense, society itself is a victim of crime.

19. How is criminal (scientific) victimology associated with the victims (social) movement? • Criminal victimology has also advanced through the activities of social movements such as the civil-rights movement and the women’s movement. In the 1960s civil rights movement drew attention to social inequities and injustice.In the 1970s, feminists lobbied for equal rights and improved services such as sexual assault services and women’s shelters. Their activism also triggered many victim-oriented legislative reforms.

20. How is criminal (scientific) victimology associated with the victims (social) movement? • In the 1980s and 90s, the law and order advocates began to influence the victims’ movement, although this relationship has at times been uneasy.Rather than springing from a humanitarian impulse to help people, the law and order advocacy has been accused of using public sympathy for victims to argue for harsher punishments and to support claims such as “judges have lost control over their courtrooms” (Fletcher 1995).This emphasis on retribution is seen by many victimologists as counter-productive to just outcomes for victims and offenders (Grabosky 1987; Harding 1994), which is a prime object of criminal victimology (Weir 1990).

21. How is criminal (scientific) victimology associated with the victims’ (social) movement? • For the reasons mentioned and others, criminal victimology is often accused of being compromised by politics.Indeed, the idea of a victimological science and its relation to the philosophy of the conservative, right victim advocacy that has dominated the victims’ movement in recent years has not always been helpful for victims.

22. The scope of victimology - Conclusion • Victimology is not a sub-set of criminology or any other social science. Neither is victimology simply an extrapolation principles developed in psychology.Although there was not much empiricism in the early days, victimology now utilises the data, theory and practices from other social sciences. It is not, however, simply a compilation of sociological, psychological and criminological knowledge.Conversely, victimology has not yet developed into a science with many ramifications, all aimed at putting the victim at the centre.

23. The scope of victimology - Conclusion • Putting the victim at the centre of both scientific and applied victimology is unifying and useful, despite argument on the scope of victimology being unresolved.Victimology is concerned with the application of knowledge to programmes and other initiatives to improve practical outcomes for victims.The convergence, not the merger, of theory and practice will ensure the survival of victimology.

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