Victim-survivor understandings of why the crime happened and their expectations of justice

• In Event: Contemporary Challenges in Victimization and Justice Responses

Abstract

Attributions for the causes of crime can affect people’s justice preferences. For example, those who believe that crime is caused by individuals tend to favour punishment, while those who believe that the causes of crime are structural tend to favour rehabilitation. However, we know little about how victim-survivors’ beliefs about the cause of their specific victimisation affect their expectations of justice, and vice-versa.
We asked 43 victim-survivors of crime about their understanding of why the crime happened, as well as their views of justice and the impact of the crime. This paper presents an overview of the relationship between beliefs about cause and expectations of justice from our participants’ perspectives. Most straightforwardly, participants told us that self-blame often prevented them from reporting the crime. In addition, their views of justice were related to such factors as whether the offender was motivated by greed, was retaliating, was using substances, had mental health problems, or learnt the behaviour from family. Participants often held institutions or wider society responsible in some way, which tended to widen their expectations of justice to include institutional reform, in addition to seeking retribution or rehabilitation for individuals. The findings from this exploratory study can help victim services and the criminal justice system to better respond to the needs and expectations generated by crime.

Author

• Diana K Batchelor, University of Sheffield