Abstract
A companion to crime, harm & victimisation is an edited collection of succinct articles on a wide variety of topics associated with victims and victimisation and it is splendid. It undoubtedly has the potential to become a go-to resource for anyone involved in the field of victimology. Victimology is a relatively young discipline and this book helps it establish and assert its position as a social science, not merely as a sub-discipline of criminology but possibly as a discipline in its own right. The positivist, cultural and critical perspective adopted in criminology is complemented with a positivist, cultural and critical perspective on victims and victimisation and what justice means for victims. Victimology builds on and borrows from criminological theories (e.g. routine activity theory was developed to explain the onset and involvement in crime but is also extensively applied to explain risk of victimisation) but is no longer an afterthought of criminology. As the editors intended, ‘the contributors and contributions exemplify a victimological imagination that can no longer be ignored or regarded as a sub-discipline of criminology or criminal justice’ (p.xviii).
In the preface, the editors further specify that they aimed for contributions to reflect contemporary policies, legislation, theories and research, display the multidisciplinarity on which victimology hinges, and allow for a conventional and less conventional focus on the field. To do so, they collected contributions from an impressive selection of academic and non-academic experts. They also adopted a broad definition of victimisation. More specifically, throughout the book readers are encouraged to think about victimology as the study of the consequences of harm, not merely of crime or infractions of the law, and about victim rights as human rights. It is argued that victimology should not only explore the consequences of property and violent crime, war crime, transnational crime, terrorism and hate crime, but also the adverse consequences on individuals and groups of aversion therapy; displacement following social conflict, war or economic uncertainty; disasters; wrongful convictions; the death penalty; austerity (especially for the already disadvantaged); and environmental harm (e.g. as a result of fracking). Specific attention is paid to iatrogenic harm, which is defined as harm caused by institutional or governmental interventions or treatment in response to crime and victimisation, such as excessive stop and search interventions that target minorities and have a counterproductive impact on society. The entry on legal crimes is particularly insightful in this regard. In it, Passas explains that legal crimes are ‘acts and practices that the law allows, and governments often encourage or even subsidise, which have adverse social, economic and environmental consequences’ (p.125), such as toxic waste disposal, the commercialisation of cancer screening products, excessive risk-taking and non-accountability for investment banks, or overfishing. These are ‘lawful but awful’ (p.125) acts that are associated with power asymmetry and end up amplifying social inequality and cannot therefore be ignored by victimologists.
As a result, A companion to crime, harm & victimisation offers valuable insights into a combination of classic and general topics that are more or less established, and new, potentially less predictable topics. For instance, readers will find useful entries on historical perspectives on victimisation; early victimological theories (with plenty of entries referring to Nils Christie’s ‘ideal victim’ or victim blaming); victim profiles and patterns of victimisation (reminiscent of early victimologists who focused on risk factors for victimisation); mobilisation of legislators through the victim movement; and victim rights (which includes asking the question whether these should be enforceable). There is information on topics related to green victimology (which does not have to be anthropocentric, as demonstrated in an entry on animals as victims), human rights, hate crime, international crime, terrorism and white collar crime. In addition, contributors identify gaps in victimological theory and research, for example elder victimology or corporate manslaughter. Particularly noteworthy contributions include the ones on survivorology, restorative justice, zemiology, the victim label (in his entry, Thomas explores whether we should talk about victims, survivors or complainants), homelessness, and media representation of victims. The contribution by Duggan and Heap on victim policy is excellent: it highlights the risk of the co-option of victim issues by politicians and how victims might be used as vote-winners and risk becoming electoral fodder (this is more extensively addressed in their book, which was reviewed in a previous issue of this journal: Duggan and Heap, 2014). Another concise and clear piece by Duggan concerns prevention of victimisation and highlights the recent and welcome shift from individual responsabilisation of potential victims towards primary crime prevention, which challenges societal attitudes. This will most definitely be on my students’ reading list, as will the contribution on the role of victims in common law jurisdictions by Garkawe (in which the limitations of the adversarial regime are emphasised, for instance that they tend to produce piecemeal victim-oriented reforms rather than fundamental changes) and the contribution on victim impact statements by O’Connell. Green’s entry on vulnerability includes interesting reflections on the universal and common phenomenon of underreporting of crime and Hall succinctly describes the four waves in empowerment schemes as well as the distinction between procedural and service rights. Most innovative, at least to me, was Corteen’s entry on victimisation in sports, particularly in wrestling. In the spirit of adopting a wide approach to victimisation and victims, she highlights the remarkably elevated premature death rate among professional wrestlers, and ties it to the excessive entertainment-driven demands on wrestlers, which result in, for instance, physical injuries and substance abuse. Rather than accepting these consequences as occupational risks, Corteen argues that these should be reframed and seen as harm due to the unreasonable demands on the athletes for lucrative purposes.
Whilst I appreciate that it is impossible to be exhaustive, some subjects seem to have been overlooked: there is no entry on poly-, multi- or revictimisation; victimisation of incarcerated persons; cybervictimisation; bullying; transitional justice; or intergenerational or postcolonial trauma. Finally, although there is consideration of resilience and recovery from trauma, for instance in the contribution on survivorology, there is no separate entry on resilience and no mention of post-traumatic growth or meaning making, despite a significant number of studies on these topics.
Overall, there is a strong focus on the UK (maybe because many contributors are affiliated with universities in the UK), exemplified in the comprehensive descriptions of UK victim policies, legislation, and practices, including UK compensation schemes, the Criminal Cases Review Commission and Code of Practice for Victims in England and Wales. Yet, there is plenty of information and critical insights that many outside of the UK will find inspiring. The book offers universal appeal through discussion of general and specific theories, challenges that victims and victim services face, emerging topics in victimology, and national and international policies to support victims of crime, including the role of victims and victim rights in the International Criminal Court.
In short, this book will most certainly be a reliable companion for my classes on victimology. I predict that my copy will soon be looking well-thumbed – a cracked book spine is always a good sign in my book.