Posted: August 1st, 2023

Victimology: Hate Crime versus Rape Victims

• The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of some aspect of victimology. Please pick TWO specific groups of crime victims from our texts (chapter 6 through chapter 18). Compare several similarities and differences among these two groups in terms of; (1) scope of the problem, (2) theories of victimization, (3) victim rights and services, and (4) treatment or intervention programs.
• Contents (80 points): The paper should cover the following components. Please organize your paper using the following six subtitles:
1. (5 pts) A concise and clear introduction
2. (17 pts) Scope of the problem: Similarities & Differences
3. (18 pts) Theories of victimization: Similarities & Differences
4. (17 pts) Victim rights and services: Similarities & Differences
5. (18 pts) Treatment or intervention programs: Similarities & Differences
6. (5 pts) Conclusion
• Although a lot of information that you will need for your paper is available from our text, it is necessary to conduct library research to produce a good quality paper. You can include as many as sources in your paper. However, please be advised that you must include at least 5 (FIVE) peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles. In other words, you can use as many sources as you want (e.g., magazine articles, textbooks, newspaper articles, government official research reports, etc.). However, the FIVE sources out of them must be “peer-reviewed journal” articles (Please be advised that government official research reports are NOT “peer-reviewed journal” articles).

• Length & Format of Paper (10 points)
• The length of the paper should be 6-8 pages long. Please note that the cover page and reference page(s) are NOT included as part of the 6-8 pages. An abstract is NOT required. However, if you would like to include an abstract in the paper, you may do so. Please be advised that the abstract page is not included as part of the 6-8 pages. Your paper must be computer-generated and double spaced. Use size 12 fonts and 1” margins. Please use Times New Roman or Calibri.

• Academic Writing Style (10 points)
• Help write my thesis – APA text citations/references are required: The sources that you include in the paper must be listed in the reference section. Otherwise, you will not receive proper credits. For example, you properly included 20 sources in the paper using Help write my thesis – APA. However, if you listed only 3 sources in the references, you will receive the credits for 3 sources. Or, if you included only 5 sources in the paper and listed 20 sources in reference section, you will receive the credits for 5 sources.

• Useful tip: Please keep in mind that the purpose of the paper is to COMPARE two groups of victims of crime in several aspects. Please do NOT waste your time explaining each group. One of the common mistakes that I have found from student papers is that some students take up 2/3 of their papers discussing each group of crime victim and use only the last 2 or 3 pages comparing the two groups. That is NOT what you are supposed to do!
1. E.g.) Apples vs. Oranges
2. BAD!  Apples are red, yellow, or green. Apples are vitamin C rich fruit. Apples are yummy. You can make apple pies by baking them in the oven. On the other hand, oranges are usually orange color. Oranges are vitamin C rich fruit. Oranges are yummy. You do not usually bake oranges in the oven.
3. GOOD!  Both apples and oranges have many similarities and differences. Both fruits are similar in that they are vitamin C rich foods. They are also similar in terms of their yummy taste. However, apples and oranges are different in terms of color. Apples can have many different colors such as red, yellow or green, but oranges have typically only one color. Both apples and oranges are also different in terms of food preparations. Apples can be baked in the oven to make apple pies, but oranges can be placed in blender to make fresh squeezed orange juice.
• It is seldom appropriate to use “I” statements in an academic paper; keep the language to third-person. (IF YOU USE THE WORD “WE”, THAT IS 2ND PERSON LANGUAGE AND ALSO, NOT VERY APPROPRIATE). Also, please keep in mind that academic writing style is very different from personal writing. Please consider the following example (source: https://awc.ashford.edu/tocw-first-person-vs-third-person.html
• First person example (only acceptable for personal writing)
1. The theory of learning that I relate to the most is Bandura’s social cognitive theory. This is the theory that you can learn to do things by observing others. I know this theory is true because I learned how to fix cars by watching my dad over many years.
• Third person correction (appropriate for all other academic writing)
1. Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory is based on the idea that people can acquire knowledge by observing others through social interaction. This theory was demonstrated through Bandura’s “Bobo Doll” experiment (1961).
• One of the common mistakes found in student papers is that some students papers are full of quotations in order to avoid plagiarism. However, please be aware that using unnecessary quotations to avoid plagiarism is an indication of poor writing skills. This is also a factor that negatively affects your originality score. So, please be careful with using quotations. Please paraphrase them in YOUR OWN WORDS. Otherwise, you will receive an automatic “D” grade.

• Due: May 4, 2020 (Monday),11:59 pm (EST). Please note that a late submission will NOT be accepted. You are required to submit your research paper through D2L drop box. Your research paper will be examined by turnitin.com to check for plagiarism.

Victimology: Hate Crime versus Rape Victims
Name
Institution
Victimology
What makes victimology a significant research topic is that instead of focusing on the crime in general like criminology, it takes an in-depth analysis of victim precipitation, facilitation, and victim provocation. In general, victimology looks into how the victims contribute to their own victimization. Rape victims and hate crime victims could be intertwined in that, rape victims could also be victims of hate crime based on their gender. In some communities, the female gender is believed to be a minority and hence a woman faces a lot of opposition from the opposite gender when she tries to challenge the status quo. One of the ways to challenge such a woman trying to rise above the oppressive social dictates is subjected to verbal, financial, political, and in most cases sexual abuse through gang rape.
Scope of the problem
Human beings are violent in nature and every other day a person is hurt or injured by another. The criminal justice system has dedicated itself to in-depth studies and understanding of the causes of victimology as a wholly different entity from criminology. Since antiquity, various people have come up with various theories that will be discussed later in the paper on victimology. A simple explanation that many would understand is that in victimology, the oppressor aims at where the victim is most vulnerable causing physical, social, material, psychological, or financial crippling. Victimization can be between people, communities, organizations, and institutions where those impacted suffer a violation of their rights in a significant way causing disruptions in the normal way of life. One of the early researchers that brought into light the aspect of criminology was Benjamin Mendelsohn in 1947 where he described it as the scientific study of crime victims (Dussich, 2014).
In both hate crime and rape, the victims’ self-esteem is affected leading to emotional and psychological trauma with long terms effects. For example, when one is raped because she is a woman, she gets bitter about the society she lives in, she questions her identity and even fears for her future generation which may mean that she may not desire to have children to prevent them from undergoing the same trauma she went through.
In both hate crime and rape, the victims could either be completely innocent, unintentionally responsible, or totally responsible for provoking aggression from the oppressor. As described earlier, victim precipitation could be used to determine the causes that led to the victimization, in other words, how the victim is responsible. Both hate crime and rape victims could be responsible for their misfortune in that they may leave a gap that makes it easy for them to be attacked. For example, a hate crime victim, could be someone from a particular race and give a very unintentional racist comment. A good example of an unintentional hate crime is, Mexico could be going through internal wars, and Donald Trump cancels his trip by publicly announcing that Mexico is a bed of terror full of violent people. His words could be minced and given the current trend of cyberbullying which is a crime, he will receive endless trolls all over social media which could result in a broader rivalry between Americans and Mexicans. A rape victim could be an underage child who escapes home, goes out to have a nice time with friends, then he or she is unknowingly dragged and raped by someone random from the club. In such a case, the victim exposed him/herself to danger however, that was not the plan.
Theories of Victimization
Making use of theories of victimization in understanding the role of the victim plays a significant role for most researchers in school and for those serving within the criminal justice system. The victim precipitation theory of victimization best describes the degree to which the victim was responsible for the crime (Zaykowski & Campagna, 2014). As aforementioned, the victim may be very unintentional, passive, or fully responsible for the victimization. In a rape crime, a woman dressing provocatively around a group of men who are abusing drugs and alcohol is to fully blame for the rape. In a hate crime, a white person hauling insults at a black person who is right from serving detention and is attacked by a gang of black people, the white person is fully responsible for the misfortune. The second theory of victimization is the lifestyle theory which claims that people become victims of crime based on their lifestyle. While a rape victim may be affected based on his or her clubbing lifestyle, or drug abuse, it might not be the case for a hate crime victim. The inability to afford luxury makes one a target of hate crime. For example, those from low-income families face a lot of stigma in school and social gatherings. Africa is a third world country, Africans in other parts of the world are then perceived to be poor and could be potential thieves. That explains why the majority of people in detention are black people. On the other hand, the ability to afford luxury may cause victimization between two groups who have graduated from seeking luxury to seeking power. For example, the USSR and the USA have been in a constant fight for power with the most recent speculation of the Corona Virus being a bioweapon by the USSR.
The Deviant Place theory comes in third to explain how exposure to dangerous places increases one’s vulnerability to victimization. Both hate crime and rape victims can expose themselves to crime by agreeing to live in a community full of aggression when they have an option to move out. For example, being a gay person in a community that is against the LGBT community would expose one to both hate crime and rape victimization. The individual has the option of moving out to a safe space and avoid being hurt physically, psychologically, emotionally, socially, and financially. Lastly, the routine Activity theory looks into the trends that would predispose one to be a victim. Both rape and hate crime victims could be targets based on for example leaving their houses unattended when going out on long vacations. Parents who are targets of hate crime may leave their children at home giving attackers a good opportunity to kidnap the kids and extort money from the parents.
Victims’ Rights and Services
Victims have a right to access assistance from the criminal justice system and have the right to prompt redress for the harm that has been caused to them. Both rape victims and hate crime victims have a right to information about their roles and the proceeding of their cases within the criminal justice system (Stamatopoulou, 2018). For example, a rape victim has the right to information on who the rape victim was and what verdict will be charged on the perpetrator. The International Criminal Court has the duty to inform the victimized nation on the cause of action that has been taken on the perpetrator in the case of a hate crime involving two nations. Victims have a right to restitution where victims of hate crime may have a better advantage in a case where only property damage occurred (Wong & Christmann, 2017). The restitution privilege is availed but not effective to a rape victim whose dignity has been violated. Both hate crime victims and rape victims have a right to the required medical, material, psychological, and social support through both the national government and non-governmental organizations.
Victims are human beings and citizens of a nation. The government then has a legal responsibility to protect all its citizens from both internal and external harm. Both hate crime and rape are targeted at a particular person or persons, however, the difference comes in the fact that rape can only occur to a small group of people at a go and the impact is felt at a personal level with the potential to graduate to societal levels. On the other hand, hate crime can cause grave damage to the multitudes of people at a go. For example, the Muslim community is known to be exercise some degree of aggression towards other religions which through bombings, many people lose their lives, property, homes, and families. The Al Qaeda militia group is believed to be Muslim dominated, even though its main target is not other religions but political rivals, the financial damage it causes is felt globally such as the 9/11 attacks.
Treatment and Intervention Programs
Violent behavior is noticeable from a young age, which means that to avoid cases of victimization, children with violent behavior should receive early correction. For example, education programs on sexual assault and rape should be included in the curriculum. At a young age, children will understand the dangers of sexual abuse and what to do when they are abused. Children learn how to observe signs of a rapist and can report them to the relevant authority before damage is done. On the other hand, hate crime result from mean comments from the parents and teachers, children learn from their elders. It is up to the parents, teachers, and guardians to refrain from irresponsible talks and actions to avoid bringing up perpetrators. Secondly, proving shelters for victims where they are safe from interacting with perpetrators is healthy for both hate crime and rape victims. Legal assistance should be provided to both hate crime victims and rape victims (Daigle, 2017).
The criminal justice system should provide the victims with competent lawyers who are non-biased, and the same should be replicated in the jury for a speedy, free-and fair hearing. Rape victims benefit more from psychosocial therapy because rape robs their dignity which may give them a lifetime trauma and may cause depression and later suicide. On the other hand, hate crime victims may benefit more from relocation to a safer state or calling in an arbitrator in the case of conflicting nations. The media has a role to play in advocating for ethnic, race, and gender equity and equality without favoring a single-gender. Movies should stop portraying black people as violent, women as a minority group. Instead, they should show the harmony between different communities. The media should also educate people on measures they should take when they find themselves victims of hate crime or rape.
Conclusion
Both hate crime and rape victims suffer physical injury, psychological trauma, financial damage, and secondary victimization such as social stigmatization. The only difference is that the degree to which it affects them given the type of damage they experience. The two types of victims suffer from severe abuse of their human rights and dignity. While rape is self-defined, hate crime could include a range of violations such as murder, denial of services, and assassination among others, hate crime could also include sexual abuse. Victim precipitation analyses how the victim is responsible for the victimization, victim facilitation looks into how the victim unintentionally made it easy for the offender to attack. Victim Provocation occurs when a person does something that provokes another to react in anger committing a crime. All victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their human dignity.

References
Daigle, L. E. (2017). Victimology: the essentials. Sage Publications.
Dussich, J. P. (2014). Teaching victimology in America: From on the job training (OJT) to PHD. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 25(4), 486-500.
Stamatopoulou, E. (2018). United Nations Action from the Victims’ Perspective: The Contribution of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In International Responses to Traumatic Stress (pp. 101-129). Routledge.
Wong, K., & Christmann, K. (2017). Hate Crime Victimization. In Routledge Handbook on Victims’ Issues in Criminal Justice (pp. 102-117). Routledge.
Zaykowski, H., & Campagna, L. (2014). Teaching theories of victimology. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 25(4), 452-467.

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