Crime Victimization

Crime Victimization: Patterns, Impact, and System Response provides students with an introductory examination of the discipline through the writings of criminologists who have made the crime victim, rather than the perpetrator, the principal subject of their analysis. 

In Section I, students read about the historical evolution of the victim’s rights movement and the recognition of the term “crime victim” in state and federal laws and policies, as well as criminal justice discourse. Section II examines various methods of obtaining data on crime victimization, statistics on the prevalence of certain types of victimization, and the measurement of other victim-related matters such as public fear of crime and risk of crime. Section III addresses typologies and theories of crime that incorporate the victim’s behavior and characteristics in explanations of the criminal event. In Section IV, students learn about the dynamics of certain types of victimization and their psychological and financial impacts on victims, their families, and society at large. The final section discusses responses to crime victimization by social services agencies and the criminal justice system. 

Multidisciplinary in nature, Crime Victimization is well suited for courses in criminal justice, criminology, sociology, public administration, health services, and social work.

Karol Lucken is a professor of criminal justice in the College of Communication Innovation and Education at the University of Central Florida. She holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in criminology from Florida State University. She has authored or coauthored a number of books and scholarly articles in such journals as International Review of Victimology, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Critical Criminology, and Criminology and Public Policy, to name a few.