Victims and Victimology: The Facts and the Rhetoric

Abstract

The paper traces the history of the young discipline of victimology and the transformation it underwent with the advent of victimization surveys. The surveys revealed striking similarities between the offender and victim populations. Examples of these similarities are given and their possible explanations are discussed. The empirical findings on crime victims are contrasted to the rhetoric of victim advocates. An attempt is made to explain the emergence of the victim cause as a political issue and the ensuing crisis in victimology. A call is made for separating science from politics and for differentiating the role of the scholar from that of the lobbyist. This leads to a distinction between scientific and humanistic victimology and to the possible way in which a clash between the humanists and the scientists could be avoided.

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