Income: As you may expect, the lower your household income, the greater your chances of being the victim of a crime. Again, this link between income and victimization is partly a reflection of the community you live in. As I discuss in Chapter 13, the poorer the neighborhood, the higher the crime rate generally is.
Taking a look at theories of victimization
Some criminologists have turned their focus toward developing theories about why people become victims (as opposed to why people commit crimes). These new theories of victimization may help explain why groups of people are targeted more than others:
Lifestyle Theory: The way you live your life impacts your vulnerability to crime. Hanging out with street gangs, drug dealers, or even heavy-drinking sorority sisters creates a greater risk of victimization.
Precipitation Theory: Sometimes a person does something that leads to his assault. For example, a white supremacist may issue a racial slur and get punched in the face. But sometimes the victim doesn’t do anything explicit. A woman walking down the street holding her purse loosely may spark the interest of a nearby thief. Her passive act nonetheless may have precipated the crime. (This does not in any way excuse the criminal for the crime or place any blame on the victim. This theory is merely intended as an aid to understanding victimization.)
Routine Activities Theory: First put forth by criminologists Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson, this theory holds that what determines whether a person is victimized results from that person’s routine activity, made up of these three factors:The presence of motivated offenders: For example, a large number of unemployed young males in the vicinity may increase the chance of being victimized. (Young, unemployed males are more likely to commit crime. See Chapter 3 for a discussion of crime statistics.)The absence of police or others who can deter crime (such as a neighborhood watch).The victim as a worthwhile target: In other words, the criminal stands to gain something from attacking the victim.
You probably see that Routine Activities Theory shares much in common with Lifestyle Theory. Both theories argue that a person’s environment can increase the risk of becoming a victim. Throughout this book you see that there is often significant overlap between different criminological theories that attempt to explain crime or crime victimization.
Expanding Victim Services in the 21st Century
Today most communities provide a variety of services to victims of crime, including some or all of the ones I discuss in this section. Note that although far more people are victims of property crime than violent crime, the majority of crime victim services are set up primarily to provide help to the victims of violent crime.
Crime victim compensation
After a convenience store clerk is shot during a robbery, how does he pay his medical bills? Today every state has a crime victim compensation program that helps victims pay their bills and cope with the aftermath of the crime. Typically, victim compensation programs are payers of last resort, meaning that a victim must exhaust his own personal health insurance first. Here are just a few of the expenses victim compensation programs can reimburse victims for:
Medical care
Lost wages
Grief counseling
Funeral expenses
Injury rehabilitation
Counseling for kids who witness crime
To be eligible for compensation, a person must be an innocent victim, meaning that he didn’t contribute to the criminal activity in any way. Also, he must fully cooperate with law enforcement. Victim service providers employ compensation officers to make sure victims’ claims are valid. (You may not be surprised to learn that people try to defraud the victim compensation system — which is about as low as stealing from an offering plate.)
Because the amount of funds in these programs is limited, so too is the amount of compensation a victim can get. And the type of compensation varies by state. For example, Texas excludes compensation for property crimes and limits the total amount to $50,000. Reimbursement for pain and suffering and emotional distress is also excluded.
Money to support compensation programs comes from a variety of sources. One of those sources is the criminals themselves: Federal and state governments collect fines and fees from all criminal defendants when they’re found guilty. In addition, if a defendant causes a victim’s injury and that victim receives some compensation from the state’s victim compensation program, the judge can make the defendant pay back the costs to the program.
For example, when the robber who shoots the convenience store clerk is found guilty, the judge can order him to repay the compensation program for any money forwarded to the clerk for his medical costs. In addition, the clerk has the legal right to file a civil lawsuit against the robber for the full amount of his medical costs and for all his pain and suffering. As a practical matter, however, most robbers don’t have any money to pay large judgments; plus, they usually end up in prison for awhile, where they don’t earn enough to repay the costs. Nonetheless, some states employ collection officers to go after criminals and collect these funds if they’re available. I have seen an inmate in prison inherit a large sum of money that was used to reimburse his victim.
Support of victim advocates
In the immediate aftermath of a violent crime, a victim may be traumatized and unable to make even the most basic decisions. To provide help to victims of violence, many police departments employ victim advocates, who offer the victims the support and resources they need to take the first steps of their recoveries.
Imagine a woman who was beaten up by her boyfriend. After the police haul him away, what will she do about her injury? Who will take care of her kids while she’s in the hospital? What if her boyfriend gets out of jail and comes back? An advocate can help the abused woman answer these tough questions. For example, the advocate may help her think of family members who can take care of her children. Or the advocate may recommend a domestic violence shelter where she and her children can live temporarily to protect themselves against the abuser in case he comes back home.
If a police department doesn’t employ advocates, often police officers are in the position of trying to help victims cope with these challenges. The department may also call on trained volunteers.
Prosecutor offices usually employ victim advocates, as well. Like advocates in police departments, these advocates may help victims get emergency services. In addition, they help explain the court process to victims, often sitting with them through hearings. After all, sitting in a courtroom with the man who raped you can be very intimidating. Having an advocate hold your hand can make a big difference. Another important service an advocate in the prosecutor’s office provides is explaining to the victim what rights she has. (I discuss these rights in the “Observing the Laws That Protect Victims’ Rights” section.)
Another type of victim advocate helps victims after the court case is done. For instance, this person may notify the victim when the criminal is set to be released from jail or prison. Some states have a statewide automated victim notification system that allows a victim to call a phone number