Department: Criminal Justice Education_Education Course Code : CRIM 103_____________

Name of Instructor: Kenny Jean C. Paja.,RCrim__________ Schedule : _____________________

Course Descriptive Title :_Human Behavior and Victimology_ Semester : _____________________

Name of Student:__________________________ Year & Section:_________________________

Student ID Number:________________________ Contact Number:________________________
Email Address:____________________________ Alternate Contact No.:____________________

FINAL TOPICS

Human Behavior and

Victimology
 VICTIMOLOGY

This chapter presents concepts, models, theories, and research studies concerning
victimology. It also includes topics about rights of victims based on international and national legal
standards.

Lesson 1. Victimology
Victimology is the scientific study of the psychological effects of crime and the relationship
between victims and offender. It examines victim patterns and tendencies; studies how victims
interact with the police and the legal system; and analyzes how factors of class, race, and sexual
orientation affect the perception of the victim by different constituents, including the public, the court
system, and the media.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, victimology is the study of the ways in which the
behavior of crime victims may have led to or contributed to their victimization.
Victimology is the scientific study of victimization, including the relationships between victims
and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system... and the
connections between victims and other societal groups and institutions, such as the media,
businesses, and social movements. From this definition, victimology encompasses the study of:
a. victim-offender relationships,
b. victim-criminal justice system relationships,
c. victims and the media,
d. victims and the costs of crime,' and
e. victims and social movements.

Who is a Crime Victim? Crime victim generally refers to any person, group, or entity who
has suffered injury or loss due to illegal activity. The harm can be physical, psychological, or
economic. legally, "victim" typically includes the following:
a. A person who has suffered direct, or threatened, physical, emotional or pecuniary harm as a
result of the commission of a crime; or
b. In the case of a victim being an institutional entity, any of the same harms by an individual
or authorized representative of another entity.

Victimology: A Background
The scientific study of victimology can be traced back to the 1940s and 1950s through
Benjamin Mendelsohn and Hans Von Hentig who began to explore the field of victimology by
creating typologies. They are considered the fathers of the study of victimology. Mendelsohn
was the first to coin the term Victimology in 1940. These new victimologists began to study the
behaviors and vulnerabilities of victims, such as the resistance of rape victims and characteristics of
the types of people who were victims of crime, especially murder victims.
Mendelsohn interviewed victims to obtain information, and his analysis led him to believe that
most victims had an "unconscious aptitude for being victimized." He created a typology of six types of
victims, with only the first type, the innocent, portrayed as just being in the wrong place at the
wrong time. The other five types all contributed somehow to their own injury, and represented victim
precipitation (see Lesson 2 below) Also, Hans Von Hentig studied victims of homicide (murder) and
suggested six types of homicide victims (see Lesson 2 below)

Victimology and Criminology

Victimology focuses on helping victims heal after as crime, while criminology aims to
understand the criminals' motives and the underlying causes of crime.
Criminologists look at every conceivable aspect of deviant behavior such as the impacts of
crime on individual victims and their families, society at large, and even criminals themselves to seek
prevention while victimologists are concerned with fostering recovery of victims.
 Victimity and Victimizer

Victimity refers to the state, quality, or fact of being a victim while victimizer refers to a
person who victimizes others.

Generations, Theories, and Models of Victimization

A. First Generation: Early Victimologists

First generation scholarly work in victimology proposed victim typologies. Common to the
ideas of these early victimologists was that each classified victim in regard to the degree to which
they had caused their own victimization. The first generation victimologists are:

1. Hans Von Hentig. German criminologist who developed a typology of victims based on the degree
to which victims contributed to causing the criminal act. His typology included the young, female, old,
immigrants, depressed, wanton, tormentor, blocked, exempted, or fighting. He explained that victims
contributed to their victimization through their actions and behaviors.
2. Benjamin Mendelsohn. Benjamin Mendelsohn, an attorney, has often been referred to as the
"father" of victimology. He developed a six-category typology of victims based on legal
considerations of the degree of a victim's culpability.

Benjamin & Master's Threefold Model. The idea of this model is that conditions that support
crime can be classified into three general categories:
a. Precipitating Factors: time, space, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
b. Attracting Factors: choices, options, lifestyles (the sociological expression "lifestyle" refers
to daily routine activities as well as special events one engages in on a predictable basis).
c. Predisposing Factors: all the sociodemographic characteristics of victims, being male, being
young, being poor, being a minority, living in squalor, being single, being unemployed.

3. Marvin E. Wolfgang. The first empirical evidence to support the notion that victims are to
some degree responsible for their own victimization. He reported that 26% of homicides resulted
from victim precipitation. He identified three factors common to victim-precipitated homicides:

a. The victim and offender had some prior interpersonal relationship,

b. There was a series of escalating disagreements between the parties, and
c. The victim had consumed alcohol.

4. Stephen Schafer. Schafer's typology classifies victims on the basis of their "functional
responsibility," Victims' dual role was to function so that they did not provoke others to harm
them while also preventing such acts.

5. Menachem Amir. Amir undertook one of the first studies of rape. On the basis of the details
in the Philadelphia police rape records, Amir reported that 19% of all forcible rapes were victim
precipitated by such factors as the use of alcohol by both parties; seductive actions by the victim;
and the victim's wearing of revealing clothing, which could tantalize the offender to the point of
misreading the victim's behavior. His work was criticized by the victim's movement and the
feminist movement as blaming the victim.

B. Second Generation: Theories of Victimization

The second generation of theorists shifted attention from the role of the victim toward an
emphasis on a situational approach that focuses on explaining and testing how lifestyles and routine
activities of everyday life create opportunities for victimization. The emergence of these two
theoretical perspectives is one of the most significant developments in the field of victimology.
 1. Victim Precipitation Theory. It was believed that this theory was the first theory on
victimization propounded by Benjamin Mendelsohn and was propagated by Hans Von Hentig which
applies only to violent victimization.
The basic premise of victim precipitation theory is that by acting in certain provocative ways,
some individuals initiate a chain of events that lead to their victimization. Similarly, it suggests that
some people may actually initiate the confrontation that eventually leads to their injury or death.
Victim precipitation can be either Active or Passive.

a. Active Precipitation. It occurs when victims act provocatively, use threats or fighting words,
or even attack first.
b. Passive Precipitation. It occurs when the victim exhibits some personal characteristic that
unknowingly either threatens or encourages the attacker. The crime can occur because of
personal conflict. This may also occur when the victim belongs to a group whose mere
presence threatens the attacker's reputation, status, or economic well-being.

2. Lifestyle Exposure Theory. This theory was developed by Michael Hindelang, Michael
Gottfredson, and James Garofalo based on their study of the National Crime Survey data from
1972—1974. They, noticed that certain groups of people, namely, young people and males, were
more likely to be criminally victimized.
3. Routine Activities Theory. (Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson) The theory posits that
the convergence in time and space of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the
absence of a capable guardian provide an opportunity for crimes to occur. The absence of any
one of these conditions is sufficient to drastically reduce the risk of criminal opportunity, if not
prevent it altogether.

Routine Activities Theory briefly says that crime occurs whenever three conditions come together:
a. Suitable Targets. There are suitable targets as long as we have poverty.
b. Motivated Offenders. There are motivated offenders since victimology assumes anyone will
try to get away with something if they can.
c. Absence of Guardians. It exists when there are few defensible spaces (natural surveillance
areas) and absence of private security; the government can't do the job alone.

4. Deviant Place Theory. This theory states that victims do not encourage crime but are victim
prone because they reside in socially disorganized high crime areas where they have the greatest risk
of coming into contact with criminal offenders, irrespective of their own behavior or lifestyle. Deviant
places are poor, densely populated, highly transient neighborhoods in which commercial and
residential property exist side by side.

Lesson 2. Victim and Victimization

Who are Victims? Victims, in general, means persons who, by reason of natural disaster or
man-made cause, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental
injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights,
through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States,
including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.

Effects and Consequences of Victimization

A. Physical Consequences. The physical consequences of victimization are often visible and
range in seriousness from bruises and scrapes, to broken bones, to fatal injuries. Other, less
foreseeable injuries, such as the threat of sexually transmitted diseases, can also be the result of a
victimization incident.
B. psychological, Emotional, and Mental Consequences.
The psychological, emotional and mental consequences of victimization may be less externally
obvious but are just as serious as physical injury. Stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental
disorders are but a few that crime victims experience.

C. Financial Consequences. The monetary costs of victimization to the victim are at times easy to
calculate and at other times impossible to measure. Medical expenses, property losses, lost wages
and legal costs are financial consequences that victims and their families must bear. The financial
consequences of victimization that society must bear include:
1. victim services,
2. witness assistance programs,
3. costs to the criminal justice system, and
4. negative public opinion.

Trauma in Victimization

A. Primary Injuries. It refers to those direct or immediate injuries that victims have suffered as
consequences of criminal act.
1. Physical Trauma. Those crime victims may experience physical trauma such as: serious injury
or shock to the body, as from a major accident. Victims may have cuts, bruises, fractured arms or
legs, or internal injuries.
2. Intense Stress Reactions. Those crime victims manifest increase in breathing, blood
pressure, and heart rate, as well as their muscles may tighten. They may feel exhausted but
unable to sleep. and they may have headaches, increased or decreased appetites. or digestive
problems.
3. Emotional Trauma. Those crime victims may experience emotional trauma; emotional wounds
or shocks that may have long-lasting effects. The different forms of emotional trauma are:
a. Shock or Numbness. Those crime victims may feel "frozen" and cut off from their own
emotions; victims say they feel as if they are "watching a movie" rather than having
their own experiences.
b. Denial, Disbelief, and Anger. Those crime victims may experience "denial," an
unconscious defense against painful or unbearable memories and feelings about the
crime.
c. Acute Stress Disorder. Some crime victims may experience trouble sleeping,
flashbacks, extreme tension or anxiety, outbursts of anger, memory problems, trouble
concentrating, and other symptoms of distress for days or weeks following a trauma.

B. Secondary Injuries. It refers to injuries caused by police, prosecutors, judges, social service
providers, the media, coroners, even clergy and mental health professionals, as well as other
government agencies who have corresponding responsibility over victims. By illustration, when
victims do not receive their (aforesaid agencies or entities) support and help, they need after the
crime, they may suffer "secondary" injuries; they may be hurt by a lack of understanding from
friends, family, and the professionals they come into contact with, particularly if others seem to
blame the victim for the crime (suggesting they should have been able to prevent or avoid it).

C. Common Injuries. It refers to those common or similar injuries that different victims have
incurred such as bruises, cuts, scrapes, broken bones, sexually transmitted diseases, and a wide
range of internal injuries. Also, physical reactions (such as rapid heart rate and breathing, increased
blood pressure, nausea or sleeplessness) to the emotional wounds caused by the crime.

Stages of Trauma Recovery

Stage 1: Silence. People who experience adverse situations, such as a traumatic event involving
actual or threatened danger, face incredible challenges. The initial stage following a traumatic event
is often a time of silence for the victim. It is common for recently victimized
people to refuse to talk about what happened. This may be due to a number of
things, including stigma, isolation, shame, guilt, confusion, or denial about the event. A person
emerging from trauma may have low self-esteem at first and may feel overwhelmed and
disconnected from the rest of the world.

Stage 2: Victimhood. Eventually, the traumatized self may start to long for change as the ongoing
suffering interferes with daily life tasks and a need to grow and recover begins to form. As this need
grows, it allows the person to begin exploring ways to move through the trauma. According to
research, there is often a tug-of-war taking place within the individual between a need to be safe
and protect emotions and a need to grow and confront the traumatic memories.

Stage 3: Survivorhood. Once a person processes the traumatic event and continues transitioning
away from the victim experience, he or she often begins identifying as a survivor. During this stage,
a person has had an opportunity to talk about his or her experience and has gained some sense of
clarity. He or she may begin to identify the ways in which he/she persevered and the strengths that
helped make moving forward possible. The person has not forgotten the event, but he or she has a
greater understanding about what the event means and the impact it has made on his or her life.

Stage 4: Thriving and Transcendence. Those victims who transformed their experiences into a
meaningful personal narrative and are not being defined by their adversity. They feel healed and
safe, and take appropriate risks in seeking connection with others, such as asking a new neighbor out
for coffee. They do not feel the need to tell their stories unless it benefits someone else. "Thrivers"
feel motivated to take part in the community and may seek out volunteer opportunities or other ways
to help others.

Common Victim Behaviors

1. Survivors of Sexual Abuse. The following are observed similar behaviors of sexual abuse
victims, to wit:
a. Survivors of sexual assault initially deny they were abused.
b. They wait until their adulthood to share their secret. For many male victims, the shame
and secrecy are compounded by the fear that their own sexuality may have something
to do with it, or at least that other will think so.
c. There is delay in reporting sexual abuse by survivors.
d. Survivors are often terrified that they will not be believed and ashamed that they don't
know how to stop the abuse. Victims often feel trapped between wanting the abuse to
stop and being terrified of other people learning what has been done to them. That fear
can keep victims silent while the abuse is going on, and for years after it has stopped.
e. Many victims continue to have a relationship with their abuser; it is common for survivors
of sexual abuse to continue relationships with their abusers after the abuse has stopped.
f. A victim's view of the offender's actions changes over time. An adult understands and
views sexuality very differently than a child. It is common for survivors to not name their
experiences as abuse until they are in adulthood.
g. It is normal for a victim's story to evolve throughout the investigative process. Initially a
victim may say nothing happened. It is not uncommon for victims to delay reporting
sexual abuse or to deny that they were abused when they are initially questioned.
Reasons could include fear of the stigma associated with the abuse, embarrassment and
retaliation.
h. Victims may deny the abuse they have suffered, or misrepresent parts of their story.
Many victims try to hide what is happening to them by outright denying it when others
ask (including classmates who may make jokes, tease or bully them based on
the irregular relationship they see or sense), and by making statements with false
bravado. Sometimes victims fear getting in trouble for their own "bad" or illegal behavior
(underage drinking, using drugs, lying to parents about where they
 are or who they are with) and will make false statements to friends; family and even
investigators about those acts.
i. It is normal for victims to freeze and be unable to physically fend off their abuser. When
faced with imminent threat or danger, most humans will freeze as opposed to fighting or
fleeing.
j. Male survivor is committed to preventing, healing, and eliminating all forms of sexual
victimization of boys and men through support, treatment, research, education,
advocacy, and activism.

2. Domestic Violence. Victims of domestic violence live in fear, worrying about their safety and
impending danger. Sometimes they need to leave their homes in order to protect themselves and
their loved ones. Even though severing ties with the abuser seems like the best solution, many
victims choose to stay with the abuser for a variety of reasons. Sometimes victims do not leave
because they want to provide a family for their children, depend on the abuser financially,
emotionally or their religion forbids them from breaking up a marriage. Even when victims decide
to leave, it takes them five attempts on average before they succeed.
Likewise, many victims who leave will need to start new independent lives often with
limited resources while feeling mentally and emotionally depleted by the effects of the abuse.
Self-protective skills are also necessary whether victims leave or stay to be able to prevent further
injury.

Kinds of Crime Victim

1. Direct or Primary Crime Victim. It refers to those directly suffer the harm or injury which is
physical, psychological, and economic losses.
2. Indirect or Secondary Crime Victim. It refers to those who experience the harm second
hand, such as intimate partners or significant others of rape victims or children of a battered
woman. This may include family members of the primary victims.
3. Tertiary Crime Victim. It refers to those who experience the harm vicariously, such as
through media accounts, the scared public or community due to watching news regarding
crime incidents.

Victimologists and their Types of Victim

A. Mendelsohn's Types of Victim

1. Innocent Victims. It refers to those who were victimized because they were just being
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
2. Victims with only minor guilt. It refers to those who were victimized due to
ignorance.
3. Victims who are just as guilty as the offender or the voluntary victims. It refers
to those victims who bear as much responsibility as the offenders. A person who, for
example, enters into a suicide pact.
4. Victims guiltier than the offender. It refers to those victims who instigated or
provoked their victimization.
5. Most Guilty Victims. It refers to those who were victimized during the perpetration of
crime or as a result of crime. An example of this is that, an attacker was killed by a
would-be victim in the act of defending himself.
6. Imaginary or Simulating Victims. It refers to those who were victimized by reason
of mental disorders or extreme mental abnormalities. Also, it refers to those who
fabricated their victimization; hence, they were not victimized at all.

According to Mendelsohn, the last five types all contributed somehow to their own injury,
and represented as victim precipitation.

B. Von Hentig's Taxonomy of Murder Victims

 1. Depressive Type. It refers to a victim who lacks ordinary prudence and discretion. It
is an easy target, careless and unsuspecting. They are submissive by virtue of
emotional condition.
2. Greedy of Gain or Acquisitive Type. It refers to a victim who lacks all normal
inhibitions and well-founded suspicions. This victim is easily duped because his or her
motivation for easy gain lowers his or her natural tendency to be suspicious.
3. Wanton or Overly Sensual Type. It refers to a victim where females foibles play a
role. This victim is particularly vulnerable to stresses that occur at a given period of
time in the life cycle, such as juvenile victims. Further, this victim is ruled by passion
and thoughtlessly seeking pleasure.
4. Tormentor Type. It refers to a victim of attack from the target of his or her abuse,
such as with battered women.
5. Lonesome Type. It refers to a victim who is considered acquisitive; he or she
becomes a victim by virtue of wanting companionship or affection.
6. Heartbroken Type. It refers to a victim who is emotionally disturbed by virtue of
heartaches and pains.

C. Von Hentig's Classes of Victim

1. The Young. The Young is weak by virtue of age and immaturity.

2. The Female. Female is physically less powerful and is easily dominated by male.
3. The Old. The old is incapable of physical defense and the common object of illegal
scheme.
4. The Mentally Defective. Mentally defective person is unable to think clearly.
5. The Immigrant. Immigrant is unsure of the rules of conduct in the surrounding
society.
6. The Minorities. Racial prejudice may lead to victimization or unequal treatment by the
agency of justice.

Lesson 3. Rights of Victim

Who may exercise Victim's Rights? A victim is usually defined as a person who has been
directly harmed by a crime that was committed by another person. To some, victims ’ rights apply
only to victims of felonies (more serious crimes) while others also legal rights to victims of
misdemeanors (less serious crimes). The family member of a homicide victim or the parent or
guardian of a minor, incompetent person, or person with a disability are the ones who could
exercise victims' rights on behalf of the victims.

Access to Justice and Fair Treatment

1. Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity.
They are entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as
provided for by national legislation, for the harm that they have suffered.
2. Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where
necessary to enable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that
are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. Victims should be informed of their rights
in seeking redress through such mechanisms.
3. The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims should
be facilitated by:
a. Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the
proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes
are involved and where they have requested such information;
b. Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at
appropriate stages or the proceedings where their personal
 interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the
relevant national criminal justice system;
c. Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;
d. Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy,
when necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and
witnesses on their behalf, from intimidation and retaliation; and
e. Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of
orders or decrees granting awards to victims.
4. Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration and
customary justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to facilitate
conciliation and redress for victims.

Assistance

1. Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance
through governmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
2. Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other
relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.
3. Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive training
to sensitize them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and prompt aid.
4. In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those who have
special needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors such as
those mentioned in paragraph 3 above.

Victim's Right in Philippines

A. The 1987 Philippine Constitution: Bill of Rights

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due

process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. One
of the aspects of the equal protection clause provides that parties (accuse or suspects,
witnesses, and victims) in crime should be accorded with equal protection. Hence, victims of
crime should be accorded with their legal rights and benefits (see more below).

Section 11. Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate
legal assistance Shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty. This
Constitutional provision entails that government shall provide legal assistance to indigent
crime victims.

Section 12.
a. Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to be
informed of his right to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel
preferably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of counsel, he must be
provided with one. These rights cannot be waived except in writing and in the presence of
counsel.
b. No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate the free will
shall be used against him. Secret detention places, solitary, incommunicado, or other similar
forms of detention are prohibited.
c. Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17 hereof shall be
inadmissible in evidence against him.
d. The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of this section as
well as compensation to and rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices,
and their families. This sub-section provides that compensation of victims should be
granted which is explicitly enabled by Republic Act No. 7309.
B. Republic Act No. 7309
It is an act creating a Board of Claims under the Department of Justice for victims of
unjust imprisonment or detention and victims of violent crimes and for other purposes.
Creation and Composition of the Board of Claims
The Board of Claims is composed of one chairman and two members to be appointed by
the Secretary of the said department.

Powers and Functions of the Board of Claims

1. to receive, evaluate, process and investigate application for claims under the Act;
2. to conduct an independent administrative hearing and resolve application for claims, grant
or deny the same;
3. to deputize appropriate government agencies in order to effectively implement its
functions; and
4. to promulgate rules and regulations in order to carry out the objectives of the Act.

Four Claimants or Applicants before Board of Claims

1. any person who was unjustly accused, convicted and imprisoned but subsequently
released by virtue of a judgment of acquittal;
2. any person who was unjustly detained and released without being charged;
3. any victim of arbitrary or illegal detention by the authorities as defined in the Revised
Penal Code under a final judgment of the court; and
4. any person who is a victim of violent crimes. Violent crimes shall include rape and shall
likewise refer to offenses committed with malice which resulted in death or serious physical
and/or psychological injuries, permanent incapacity or disability, insanity, abortion, serious
trauma, or committed with torture, cruelly or barbarity.

In sum, paragraphs one to three refer to victims of government agencies through their officials
or officers in connection to their public functions while paragraph four refers to those victims by
private individuals.

Award Ceiling. For victims of unjust imprisonment or detention, the compensation shall be based
on the number of months of imprisonment or detention and every fraction thereof shall be
considered one month; Provided, however, that in no case shall such compensation exceed P
1,000.00 per month.
In all other cases, the maximum amount for which the Board may approve a claim shall not
exceed
P10,000.00 or the amount necessary to reimburse the claimant the expenses incurred for
hospitalization, medical treatment, loss of wage, loss of support or other expenses directly related to
injury, whichever is lower. This is without prejudice to the right of the claimant to seek other
remedies under existing laws.
Filing of Claims. Any person entitled to compensation under the Act must, within six months after
being released from imprisonment or detention, or from the date the victim suffered damage or
injury, file his claim with the Department, otherwise, he is deemed to have waived the same. Except
as provided for in the Act, no waiver of claim whatsoever is valid.
Filing of Claims by Heirs. In case of death or incapacity of any person entitled to any award under
the Act,
the claim may be filed by his heirs, in the following order: by his surviving spouse, children, natural
parents, brother and/or sister.
Resolution of Claims. The Board shall resolve the claim within thirty working days after filing of the
application. The Board shall adopt an expeditious and inexpensive procedure for the claimants to
follow in order to secure their claims under the Act.