Victimology Case

Victimology can go way back in history, as early as the 1800's. At that time though victimology was based on what the victim went through and the victim's perspective of the crime committed. The only person at this time who would take on victimology was a psychologist. There wasn't enough technology to take on any evidence. One the other hand, the scientific study on victimology started in the mid 1900's. The most well-known criminologists were Mendelsohn and Von Hentig. They created different typologies of the victims and the crimes by studying the behaviors and vulnerabilities of victims. Their outlook on victimology still is used today.

Mendelsohn (1937) would study behaviors and the vulnerabilities of the victim by checking out how much a rape victim would resist. He would also study the characteristics and the type of people who were the victims. For example, if you have a person that is a rape victim but come to find out it was boyfriend and they were doing heroin together at the time, would you say that she would be a victim precipitation? When you have a person that was woken up in their bed at gun point and was raped, would you say they are the innocent victim? Mendelsohn came to realize that a lot of victims have an unconscious aptitude for being victimized. Mendelsohn has come up with six different typologies. The first one is the innocent victim who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other five typologies were where the victims contributed in being the victim in some way.

Von Hentig (1948) expertise was in victims of homicide. Von Hentig stated that the most likely person to fall victim of this crime would be the "depressive type." The reason behind this study would be because the depressive type is an easy target. They are very careless and are not suspecting that this crime would happen to them. The other type that is an easy target to fall victim of homicide is the "greed type." The "greed type" more or less, is in it for money and it becomes the motivator for gain and becomes lees suspicious of their surroundings. For example, in this case you will find a person of wealth missing. Come to find out it was someone in the family or close friend because they don't expect it. The "wanton type" is a person that starts out as a victim but turns around and becomes the predator. The "wanton type" usually starts in a stressful situation at any given time in a person's life. For example, a women that is beat up on a regular basis by her husband, she flips the script one day and decides she had enough and shots him while he is sleeping is a "wonton type." Von Hentig's study is still around and is used today.

The difference between Mendelsohn and Von Hentig in their typologies is that Mendelsohn's types are studies on behaviors and characteristic of the victims. He wants to know what the victim's