Crime - Victim interactions, chapter three, discoverys

discoveries for chapter three

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CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS, CHAPTER THREE, DISCOVER

DISCOVERY ONE, CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS.

BIOLOGICAL:

p: Most victims never report the crime that has been commited against them.

E: Hollin: only 25% of all crimes appear in official statistics, leaving a 'dark figure' of unreported crimes that are inaccesable to researchers. This indicates that official statistics are not useful or valid because they represent such a small percentage of crime. The 'British Crime Survey' gathers its data through self report measures from households in the UK, and shows 4.5 times as many crimes than police records.

C: This informs us of the true extent of crime, which can help us to reduce it, rather than official statistics which are invalid and also just used by politicians to gain votes.

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CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS, CHAPTER THREE, DISCOVER

DISCOVERY TWO, CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS.

social factors:

P: Fear and perception of crime is highly affected by social factors.

E: Goodey: argues that men's apparent fearlessness with regard to crime is crucially tied to society's perception of masculinity, which prevents men admitting their own vunerablitiy.

The media also has a huge impact on public perception of crime.

Howitt: argues that the media's focus on exceptional events like sex and violence creates a skewed impression of the risks within the general public.

Parker:'s study also indicates this, showing that sensationalist converage produce higher crime levels than non sensationalist coverage.

C: As fear of crime can seriously affect our quality of life, this suggests that the media's affect on people should be adressed.

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CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS, CHAPTER THREE, DISCOVER

DISCOVERY THREE, CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS.

Personal differences.

P: How can victims respond to crime?

E: Kilpatrick: studied female crime victims and discovered that victims of sexual assult go through an experience known as '**** Trauma Syndrome'. This involves physical factors such as weight loss, and diziness psychological factors such as depression and anxiety, and behavioural problems such as social withdrawal and alcohol and drug use.

The symptoms are similar to those of 'Post traumatic Stress Disorder' which can occur in all types of crime, not just sexual assult. Specifically, symptoms of PTSD include intrusive thoughts, avoidant behaviour, shame and guilt.

C: This informs us of what victims experience which helps us understand how to help them cope with what has happened.

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CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS, CHAPTER THREE, DISCOVER

DISCOVERY FOUR CRIME VICTIM INTERACTIONS.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.

P: there are differences in the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime.

E: The British Crime Survey shows that certain people are more suseptble to certain types of crime than others. Well-off professionals are more likely to be burgled. Risk factors associated with violent crime include: being single, unemployed, renting and going out often.

Chambers: informs us that individuals from violent homes with a low self-esteem are more likely to become victims as they tend to engage in risky behaviour.

C: These studies inform us of the groups in society that are most suceptable to crime, which is very useful as it shows that these people should be targetted in crime prevention for example educatiing them in how to prevent crime eg fitting burglar alarms.

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