Legal Psychology

Gerhard OhrbandULIM University, Moldova

3rd lectureVictimology

Course structure

Lectures: • 1. Introduction into Legal Psychology – Theories of crime • 2. Correctional treatment• 3. Victimology• 4. Police psychology• 5. Testimony assessment• 6. Criminal responsibility• 7. Judicial judgments• 8. Psychological assessment of families

Course structure

Seminars:9. Eyewitness testimony10. Jury decision-making11. Child abuse12. Prostitution13. Rape14. Tax evasion15. Stereotypes and prejudices in the law system

1. Victims of crime and violence

2. Secondary victimization

3. Fear of crime

Content

1. Victims of crime and violence

Consequences of victim experiences

Unspecific consequences: physical, posttraumatic stress disorders (among others, flashback, sleep disorders, panic)

Specific consequences: depression, fears, changes of self-worth, self-accusation, social consequences (“secondary victimization”)

Victim experiences

Individualresources

Socialresources

Type andseriousness

of theexperience

Individual resources: coping resources and mechanismsSocial resources: competent support, lack of secondary victimization

2. Secondary victimization

• Definition: While “primary victimization” subsumes all kinds of damages directly caused by the deed, “secondary victimization” represents reactions from which result supplementary damages of the victim as well as his/her remaining in the role of a victim.

• Such faulty reactions can come both from the closer social field of the victims and from the formal control authorities.

• What kind of faulty reactions?• What kind of damages?

Different dimensions of secondary victimization

1. Retraumatization

2. Long-term damages induced by the law process

3. Short-term damages induced by the law process

Empirical studies

Methodological difficulties:

• separation of the damages caused by the deed from those caused by the law process itself.

• Control group of victim witnesses who do not participate in the process.

• Few systematic studies who examine different dependent variables

Concrete stress factors

• Encounter with the accused

• Length of the process

• Repeated questioning

• Anticipation of the interrogation

• Insufficient knowledge in law

• Lack of inclusion in the process

3. Fear of crime

Fear of crime – a topic with many facets:• Individual disposition (trait): Why does this

person (now) have fear, another not?• Actual situation (state): Why is there fear in this

situation, in another not?• Attitude: How often does one have fear, how

probable is the chance of a victimization, how does one react?

• Concern: How has crime changed, how threatening is it in general?

Literature

• Berliner, L. & Conte, J.R. (1995). The effects of disclosure and intervention on sexually abused children. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19, 371-384.

• Campbell, R. & Raja, S. (1999). Secondary victimization of rape victims: Insights from mental health professionales who treat survivors of violence. Violence and Victims, 14, 261-275.

• Epstein, J.N., Saunders, B.E. & Kilpatrick, D.G. (1997). Predicting PTSD in women with a history of childhood rape. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 573-588.