Chapter 1   Introduction and History of Victimology

TRUE/FALSE.  Write 'T' if the statement is true and 'F' if the statement is false. 

1) 

Victimology as a discipline first emerged in the 1930s.  

1) 

_______ 

2) 

The victims' movement gained momentum in the United States in the 1980s. 

2) 

_______ 

3) 

Victimology is a discipline that combines theoretical research with practical experience.  

3) 

_______ 

4) 

The term victim is inconsistently applied in the various arenas of federal criminal law. 

4) 

_______ 

5) 

Primitive laws usually contained two premises (1) acts that injured others were considered private wrongs, and (2) the injured party was entitled to act against the wrongdoer.  

5) 

_______ 

6) 

The Code of Hammurabi is considered one of the first known attempts to establish a written code of conduct.  

6) 

_______ 

7) 

The Code of Hammurabi did not provide for victims.  

7) 

_______ 

8) 

The Mosaic Code assumed that men were superior to women. 

8) 

_______ 

9) 

The Justinian Code distinguished between two major types of laws public laws and private laws. 

9) 

_______ 

10) 

Common law is a traditional body of unwritten legal precedents created by court decisions throughout the Middle Ages in England. 

10) 

______ 

11) 

The only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution is treason. 

11) 

______ 

12) 

One of the major contributing forces for the victim rights movement in the past several decades have been the feminist movement. 

12) 

______ 

13) 

Sexual assaults are a way for the perpetrator to control, dominate, and humiliate the victim. 

13) 

______ 

14) 

One factor that hindered the awareness of the plight of victims was that society became more conservative and concerned about crime in general. 

14) 

______ 

15) 

Mendelsohn concluded that there was usually a weak interpersonal relationship between the offender and the victim.  

15) 

______ 

16) 

In 1948, in an early classical text, The Criminal and His Victim, Mendelsohn explored the relationship between the "doer," or criminal, and the "sufferer," or victim. 

16) 

______ 

17) 

From 1984 to the present, the victims' movement has been characterized by a decrease in the professionalism of the victims' service advocates and providers.  

17) 

______ 

18) 

In 1982, President Carter appointed a Task Force on Victims of Crime. 

18) 

______ 

19) 

The Victims' Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified during President Clinton's term in office.  

19) 

______ 

20) 

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) mandated that various professions form partnerships and work together to respond to all forms of violence against women. 

20) 

______ 

MULTIPLE CHOICE.  Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 

21) 

One of the most controversial areas of victimology has been and continues to be the concept known as 

21) 

______ 

A) 

victim blaming.  

B) 

restitution. 

C) 

victim naming. 

D) 

victim participation. 

22) 

Hindelang and his colleagues examined exposure and guardianship as they relate to victimization. They call this theory the ________ approach to victimization, which argues that the likelihood of becoming a victim depends on an individual's lifestyle.  

22) 

______ 

A) 

lifestyle  

B) 

real  

C) 

life  

D) 

homogeny  

23) 

Karmen correctly points out that victimologists view the dynamics of the victim's role in society from a ________ perspective.  

23) 

______ 

A) 

criminology 

B) 

multidisciplinary  

C) 

single 

D) 

humanistic 

24) 

Marvin E. Wolfgang conducted the first major study of victim precipitation when he focused on ________, studying both the victim and the offender as separate entities and as mutual participants. 

24) 

______ 

A) 

kidnapping 

B) 

rapes 

C) 

homicides  

D) 

suicides 

25) 

Which of the following was NOT one of Von Hentig's psychological types of victims? 

25) 

______ 

A) 

wanton 

B) 

mentally defected  

C) 

acquisitive  

D) 

depressed 

SHORT ANSWER.  Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question. 

26) 

Von Hentig established a typology of victims. The classification was based on psychological, ________, and biological factors. 

26)  

_____________ 

27) 

Many scholars credit ________ with coining the term victimology. 

27)  

_____________ 

28) 

The ________ movement alerted us to centuries of discrimination and violence directed against women. 

28)  

_____________ 

29) 

The researcher ________ asserts that rape is an act used by men to maintain their dominance over women using force. 

29)  

_____________ 

30) 

Von Hentig theorized that a large percentage of victims, because of their acts or ________, were responsible for their victimization. 

30)  

_____________ 

MATCHING.  Choose the item in column 2 that best matches each item in column 1. 

Match the key words or phrases with the associated phrase.

31) 

His typology was one of the first attempts to focus on victims of crimes rather than to simply examine the perpetrator. 

A) 

Marvin Wolfgang 

31) 

______ 

B) 

Mendelsohn 

C) 

32) 

The Criminal and His Victim 

Reagan 

32) 

______ 

D) 

33) 

Appointed a Task Force on Victims of Crime 

Von Hentig 

33) 

______ 

E) 

William Ryan 

34) 

Blaming the Victim 

34) 

______ 

35) 

In Philadelphia, he conducted the first major study of victim precipitation. 

35) 

______ 

ESSAY.  Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper. 

36) 

Explain Mendelsohn's theory of victimization. 

37) 

How did the victims' rights movement begin? 

38) 

What role has the feminist movement played in the victims' movement? 

39) 

Explain the importance of the Code of Hammurabi. 

40) 

What are the key points in the opportunity model of victimization? 

41) 

Why was the discipline of victimology slow in developing? 

42) 

What is the issue involved in "blaming the victim" approach? 

 

1) 

FALSE 

2) 

TRUE 

3) 

TRUE 

4) 

TRUE 

5) 

FALSE 

6) 

TRUE 

7) 

FALSE 

8) 

FALSE 

9) 

TRUE 

10) 

TRUE 

11) 

TRUE 

12) 

TRUE 

13) 

TRUE 

14) 

FALSE 

15) 

FALSE 

16) 

FALSE 

17) 

FALSE 

18) 

FALSE 

19) 

FALSE 

20) 

TRUE 

21) 

A 

22) 

A 

23) 

B 

24) 

C 

25) 

B 

26) 

social 

27) 

Mendelsohn 

28) 

feminist 

29) 

Brownmiller 

30) 

behavior 

31) 

B 

32) 

D 

33) 

C 

34) 

E 

35) 

A 

36) 

His approach examined five factors exposure, guardianship, proximity, attractiveness of targets, and definitions of specific crimes. According to this theory, exposure and guardianship are aspects of the lifestyle theory. Mendelsohn classified victims into six distinct categories Completely Innocent Victim, Victim with Minor Guilt, Victim Who Is as Guilty as the Offender, Victim More Guilty Than the Offender, Most Guilty Victim, and Imaginary Victim. 

37) 

The victims' rights movement began as a small group of volunteers who themselves were crime victims and who had been victimized a second time because of their involvement with the criminal justice system. This small group of volunteers has grown and become a powerful force in America that continues to expand and change the way we view victimology. 

38) 

The movement alerted us to centuries of discrimination and violence directed against women. By speaking out, feminists forced us to realize that women were victims not only of violent crime on the streets of cities, but also of sexual harassment within the work environment and family violence within the home. Many of the crimes suffered by women are distinct from those suffered by men. Many of these crimes, although sexual in nature, are in fact nothing more than aggressive assaults that have little to do with sex. Sexual assaults are in reality a way for the perpetrator to control, dominate, and humiliate the victim. 

39) 

The Code of Hammurabi is considered one of the first known attempts to establish a written code of conduct. The code established rules regarding theft, sexual relationships, and interpersonal violence, and it was intended to replace blood feuds with a system sanctioned by the state. The code established certain obligations and objectives for the citizens of Babylon to follow. 

40) 

This approach examines five factors exposure, guardianship, proximity, attractiveness of targets, and definitions of specific crimes. The opportunity theory links dimensions of social inequity to criminal victimization. It involves exposure to potential offenders; proximity between where victims or targets reside and where potential offenders are found; guardianship, which involves the effectiveness of persons or objects in preventing crime; target attractiveness, which is the desirability of persons or property to potential offenders; and definition of certain crimes, which establishes the difficulty in committing certain acts. 

41) 

There was an issue as to whether the victim was at fault in some manner. Victims lacked organizations to advocate on their behalf. Our laws did not generally support the rights of victims. 

42) 

It is the most controversial area of victimology and includes victim blaming, victim responsibility, or victim perception. Some of the world's most prominent victimologists established classifications that included victims as a cause of criminal acts. This tends to shift the blame from the criminal to the victim.