Abstract
In their work, Quinn and Brightman successfully create an extensive overview of the burgeoning but vastly understudied area of victimology and victimization. A useful tool for students, academics, and those working in victim services, this book provides a general overview of the history and study of victimology, types of criminal victimization, an overview of the victim rights’ movement, and a guide to what victims need to recover from various types of crimes. The authors’ use of extra learning materials at the end of each chapter as well as discussion of current events and topics often ignored by criminological works make this book an extremely useful tool for both students and individuals who work with victims.
Quinn and Brightman wrote this as an introduction to an area of study that is only beginning to be included in criminology and sociology courses. The study of victims and their roles within crime have often been downplayed or ignored by researchers in favor of focusing on the criminal or the acts themselves. The book is organized into several chapters, each designated to a particular facet within victimology, such as its history and definition, types of vulnerable populations, types of victims across the crime spectrum, and a chapter about the development of victim rights and advocacy programs. Each chapter is meant to provide the reader with a broad understanding of the particular topic and how it relates to the broader area of victimology and how each topic relates to contemporary events and careers.
Elizabeth Quinn received her PhD from Sam Houston State University and currently works for the department of Criminal Justice at Fayetteville University. Sara Brightman earned her PhD in sociology and currently works at Fayetteville University in the Department of Criminal Justice. Both authors teach victimology courses at the graduate and undergraduate level, and it is apparent throughout this introductory work that the authors are advocating for the proliferation of victimology courses in other universities and criminal justice departments.
This is apparent in the organization of the work as well. They begin by extensively reviewing the history of victimization and how victimization has been historically measured, and how certain types of victimization have emerged as our definitions of crime have changed and shifted. A prominent example used is domestic violence and spousal rape, which were not always considered crimes because women were considered by society to be part of the home and under their husband’s “ownership.” The authors review the types of national and international crime and victimization surveys, and recent victimization statistics and motives of several different crimes including homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and assault. Hate crimes, cyber crimes, and “victimless” crimes are also discussed, along with the various short- and long-term effects that crime can have on primary, secondary, and tertiary victims. The book then covers victim’s legal rights, as most states in the United States have amended their laws to include a victim’s bill of rights, and the authors also discuss in more detail what victim’s roles are in the court process. The work ends by reviewing victim advocacy, working with victims, and future directions in victimology such as restorative justice, which focuses less on punishment of the perpetrator and more on restoring things to their original state. The authors show that while this field is not given much attention, restorative justice seeks to put the control back into the victim’s hands to give them more substantive rights.
A definitive strength of the work was the extra resources added throughout that both students and instructors may use to supplement each chapter. In several chapters, the authors include short interviews from individuals who work with victims in various avenues. Individuals working as victim advocates, judges, and within academia can be found in these excerpts and not only give the reader additional career options to think about but also provide a lot of current issues that victims and professionals working with them are facing today. Additionally, suggested websites and short stories from various forms of media allow for students to take the text and contextualize it into events that happened or are currently happening in the society.
As an overview, Quinn and Brightman covered a large range of topics and were able to discuss each topic in enough detail that the reader will be able to use it in further study. However, throughout the book, gender was often discussed in absence with any race of socioeconomic status discussion. Considering the contemporary nature of this book and its extra resources, discussions about race and policing would have made for a stronger victimization discussion, the only examples used that contextualized race occurred in historical sections and did not move to contemporary issues surrounding race and victimization. There were several individuals in the extra interviews who did discuss race and immigration, which was a major strength of the interviews themselves.
The author’s work provides a broad and comprehensive introduction to an area often while going into enough discussion that the reader is able to know and understand the historical and contemporary contexts of each area of victimology. The authors note that they are writing specifically for students as an introduction to victimization and criminal justice, but this work is also great for academics, advocates, and professionals working in the field with victims who want to know more about the field.