Theories of victimisation

Traditionally, criminological theory was concerned with those who committed crime. Since the Second World War however, increased academic attention has been focused on those who are victims of this activity.

Over several decades a sub-discipline has emerged. The field of victimology is concerned with:

1. understanding why some individuals and groups are victimised at higher rates than others;
2. responding to efforts to measure the extent and impact of victimisation;
3. improving the criminal justice response to victims and witnesses;
4. adopting trauma-informed response with both victim and offender strategies

(Zaykowski and Campagna, 2014: 452).