PHINMA Cagayan de Oro College

Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City

Graduate School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Master of Science in Criminology

THE ROLE OF VICTIM IN THE COMMISSION OF A CRIME

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Subject
CRI 150 (Victimology)

Submitted to:

Glenda C. Panugaling, PhD

Submitted by:

Kimberly Mae Mirantes

March 2021
INTRODUCTION

It is really hard to comprehend why a specific person becomes a victim

of crime. Is it because of something that the he or she did? Did the offender

particularly choose the victim because he or she seemed like an easy target?

Or does the victim is just simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Perhaps

there is an element of “bad luck” or chance involved, but victimologists have

developed some theories to explain victimization. These theories of

victimization help explain some of the roles of the victim in the commission of

the crime.

Several theories were developed by victimologists in an attempt to

explain why a victim became a victim of crime. Victimologists have been

investigating how much a victim contributes to his or her own victimization. In

fact, victims were not portrayed as innocents who were wronged at the hands

of the offender. Rather, concepts such as victim precipitation, victim facilitation,

and victim provocation developed from these investigations. Victim precipitation

victimization. The main concept of this is that, although some victims are not at

all responsible for their victimization, other victims are. Similarly, victim

facilitation is when a victim unintentionally makes it easier for an offender to

commit a crime. A victim may, in this way, be a catalyst for victimization.

Lastly, victim provocation occurs when a person does something that incites

another person to commit an illegal act.

While there may be a victim-offender duality that exists in theory, where

victims are viewed as always good or virtuous and offenders as always bad or

predatory, the reality of crime exists somewhere in the hazy middle. No doubt

there are many cases where the crime would have occurred regardless of the

victim’s actions, but there are also many cases where the crime would not have

occurred, at least at that time, if not for the actions of the victim. To ignore this

is to ignore a reality of crime, thereby undermining attempts to understand it.

Because of this, the researcher strongly believes that we should not ignore the

concepts of victim precipitation, victim facilitation and victim provocation, no

matter how distastefully it is viewed by some other people.

Victim. Is a person who has been physically, financially or emotionally

injured and/or had their property taken or damaged by someone committing a

crime.

Victimology. Is an academic scientific discipline which studies data that

describes phenomena and causal relationships related to victimizations.

Victim Facilitation. Occurs when a victim unintentionally makes it

easier for an offender to commit a crime.

Victim Precipitation. Is defined as the extent to which a victim is

responsible for his or her own victimization. It is a controversial theory asserting

that victims sometimes initiate the actions which lead to their harm or loss.

Victim Provocation. Occurs when a person does something that incites

another person to commit an illegal act.

Victim Precipitation
Victim precipitation is defined as the extent to which a victim is

responsible for his or her own victimization. The concept of victim precipitation

is rooted in the notion that, although some victims are not at all responsible for

their victimization, other victims are. In this way, victim precipitation

acknowledges that crime victimization involves at least two people—an

offender and a victim—and that both parties are acting and often reacting

before, during, and after the incident. Identifying victim precipitation does not

necessarily lead to negative outcomes. It is problematic, however, when it is

used to blame the victim while ignoring the offender’s role.

Victim Facilitation

Similar to victim precipitation is the concept of victim facilitation. Victim

facilitation occurs when a victim unintentionally makes it easier for an offender

to commit a crime. A victim may, in this way, be a catalyst for victimization. A

woman who accidentally left her purse in plain view in her office while she went
to the restroom and then had it stolen would be a victim who facilitated her own

victimization. This woman is not blameworthy—the offender should not steal,

regardless of whether the purse is in plain view. But the victim’s actions

certainly made her a likely target and made it easy for the offender to steal her

purse. Unlike precipitation, facilitation helps understand why one person may

be victimized over another but does not connote blame and responsibility.

Victim Provocation

Victim provocation occurs when a person does something that incites

another person to commit an illegal act. Provocation suggests that without the

victim’s behavior, the crime would not have occurred. Provocation, then, most

certainly connotes blame. In fact, the offender is not at all responsible. An

example of victim provocation would be if a person attempted to mug a man

who was walking home from work and the man, instead of willingly giving the

offender his wallet, pulled out a gun and shot the mugger. The offender in this

scenario ultimately is a victim, but he would not have been shot if not for

attempting to mug the shooter.

Hans von Hentig

In studying victimization, then, von Hentig looked at the criminal-victim dyad,

thus recognizing the importance of considering the victim and the criminal not in

isolation but together. He attempted to identify the characteristics of a victim that

provoke victimization—acting as agent provocateurs—based on their

characteristics. He argued that crime victims could be placed into one of 13

categories based on their propensity for victimization: (1) young; (2) females;

(3) old;(4) immigrants; (5) depressed; (6) mentally defective/deranged; (7) the

acquisitive; (8) dull normals; (9) minorities; (10) wanton; (11) the lonesome and

heartbroken; (12) tormentor; and (13) the blocked, exempted, and fighting.

Benjamin Mendelsohn

Known as the father of victimology, Benjamin Mendelsohn coined the term

for this area of study in the mid-1940s. As an attorney, he became interested in

the relationship between the victim and the criminal as he conducted interviews

with victims and witnesses and realized that victims and offenders often knew

each other and had some kind of existing relationship. He then created a

classification of victims based on their culpability, or the degree of the victim’s

blame. His classification entailed the following:

1. Completely innocent victim: a victim who bears no responsibility at all for

victimization; victimized simply because of his or her nature, such as

being a child

2. Victim with minor guilt: a victim who is victimized due to ignorance; a

victim who inadvertently places himself or herself in harm’s way.

responsibility as the offender; a person who, for example, enters into a

suicide pact.

4. Victim guiltier than offender: a victim who instigates or provokes his or

her own victimization.

5. Most guilty victim: a victim who is victimized during the perpetration of a

crime or as a result of crime.

6. Simulating or imaginary victim: a victim who is not victimized at all but,

instead, fabricates a victimization event.

1. Crime is a shared responsibility between a victim and an offender. In fact,

Marvin Wolfgang and Menachem Amir conducted the first empirical

examinations of victim precipitation. Wolfgang studied homicides in

Philadelphia, and Amir focused on forcible rapes. Wolfgang found that 26%

of homicides were victim precipitated. Amir concluded that 19% of forcible

rapes were precipitated by the victim.

2. There are victims who are not responsible at all in a crime and there are

victims who are totally responsible for their own victimization.

3. The Criminal Justice System lacks prevention programs and policies that

focuses more on the victim rather than the criminals.

CONCLUSION

In criminological sense, victims are those individuals who were wronged

by the offender and has suffer most of the injury, may it be physically,

financially and emotionally. But in the field of victimology, victims are not always

the innocent ones and thus, play a very significant role for their own

victimization. There are victims who are completely innocent at all and therefore

should not be blame for the crime committed by the offender. There are also
victims who are a little bit responsible for their own victimization. Lastly, there

are victims who are to be blamed for the crime committed by the offender and

therefore totally responsible for the crime that has happened.

Additionally, the Criminal Justice System put greater emphasis only on

prevention programs and policies about the crime and the criminal itself.

Although the offender is ultimately responsible for crime victimization, it cannot

be denied that victims also played an important role for their own victimization.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Numerous victimization surveys should be developed to determine the

extent to which people were victimized, the typical characteristics of

victims, and the characteristics of victimization incidents.

2. Knowing the extent to which people are victimized, who is likely targeted,

and the reasons why people are victimized, prevention program and

policies about victimization should be developed in order to reduce the

crime rate in the society.

3. Legislative laws centered on victims and their rights should be

developed since the victims are often the most forgotten people in

criminal justice system.

The American Society of Victimology: http://www.american-society-

victimology.us

Crime in the United States: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-

the-u.s.-2015

An Oral History of the Crime Victim Assistance Field Video and Audio Archive:
http://vroh.uakron.edu/index.php