Introduction
Violence involves using of force to cause harm or promise to cause harm intentionally. Victimization on the other hand is the process of transforming another person into a victim by making them the receivers of violent or threat actions. Victimized individuals suffer from trauma that may be physical or psychological. The subject of violence and victimization is broad. Therefore, this paper will break it down and analyze some components of the issue in order to convey a general understanding.
Occurrences of Violence and Victimization in Society
The experience of violence and victimization begins in childhood and continues into adulthood. An individual may be violent or may be a victim of violence at any stage of growth except at infancy. Breaking down the study of violence and victimization into childhood victimization, adolescent victimization and intimate partner violence (IPV) allows researchers to better comprehend the subject. Moreover, domestic violence is a common topic under violence and victimization. This arises because a noticeable amount of crime involves acquaintance or family crime as well as interpersonal violence. Violence usually falls under the category of violent crime or family violence. A common presumption is that victims of either kind of violence will report their victimization experiences even if the perpetrators are never punished. Therefore, a good source of statistics of violence and victimization remains the national crime survey and the national family or domestic violence survey.
The following are the common types of violence reported by victims. Understanding types of violence will form the background understanding of victimization and its theoretical basis. Physical violence occurs when another person controls the victim using a body part or an object. Physical violence may include kicking, overmedication, murder and assault or threat with an object or weapon. Sexual violence happens when a person forces another to participate in a sexual activity. It includes and is not limited to beating sexual parts, denying a woman’s sexuality, denial of sexual information, and forced abortion. Emotional violence happens when something said or done makes one feel insignificant. It includes features like name calling, confinement to home or constant criticism (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2010).
Psychological violence occurs when a person cause a victim to fear control. It includes threats of violence or abandonment. Verbal abuse ensues when language is the vessel that causes harm. Financial abuse transpires when the victim loses control of their financial resources. It may happen when they face a denial to enhance their capacity to earn. Spiritual and cultural violence practices happen when the victim suffers because of his or her spiritual or religious affiliation. Such practices include rape-marriage and honor crimes. Lastly, neglect emerges when someone who is responsible for care or assistance refuses to take up his or her duty (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2010).
Recent Research on Violence and Victimization
Below is an examination of findings from recent research about violence and victimization. Within the realm of domestic violence, there are; spouse-on-spouse abuse, child abuse and sibling violence. Googlin and Dunn (2009), examine the co-occurrence of the above kinds of violence or the existence of each type of violence individually. Characteristics of these types of violence include rape or sexual assault, robbery and aggravated and simple assault. Single victimization incidences occur only once in a household. However, if the violent incidences recur then they become repeat victimization (Googlin & Dunn, 2009).
Popescu, Drumm and Dewan (2010), also research on the subject of victimization among children. They separate it into primary childhood victimization and secondary childhood victimization. In the first part, the child faces abuse or neglect. In the second part, the child witnesses violence between parents during childhood. Using a self-administered survey the researchers conclude that childhood victimization positively correlates to negative coping to violence in a person’s adult life.
Intimate partner violence is a major component of family victimization worldwide. Widespread recognition of partner violence began in the 1960s (Stevens & Korchmaros, 2010). During this period, there was an increase in the number of legislation targeting victims of domestic violence in the United States. IPV research shows that victimization significantly depends on power and its construct of gender roles among partners (Googlin & Dunn, 2009). Another subcategory of violence and victimization involves victims who have any king of disability. Past researches confirm that there is a high prevalence of violence among people with disabilities at any stage of growth, compared to similar person void of disabilities (Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Espelage, 2011).
Victimization in Theory
The formulation of scientific research on violence and victimization uses various hypotheses that depend on a literature study of the subject. The section below offers a brief theoretical view of victimization. Violence and victimization studies are diverse. Newer parameters are always arising on what to research in the subject. Historically, a systematic study of victims began in the 1940s because of an interest from socially conscious citizens and scientist (Schurink, Synman, & Krugel, 1992). Over the years, the study of victims depended on the complexities of perceptions and questions of morality and politics. Moreover, the description of victims, and how they should receive help, embroiled a verdict of justice, veracity, and humaneness. The researches quoted above form part of the predominant empirical studies by scholars that now make up the subject of victimology. Notably, the diverse forms of violence and the extensive nature of its application remove any limit on victimization (Schurink, Synman, & Krugel, 1992).
The degree of victimization is a perception of how much a person suffers. Social and political systems respond to victimization types that appear to be most severe in their respective societies. Similarly, individuals measure the degree of victimization based on the value they assign to the actions and consequences of a particular type of violence. Theories of victimization indicate that socially distant individuals and groups are popular targets of rational violence, which target their property. Meanwhile, socially close individuals will be popular targets, as victims, in emotional violence (Schurink, Synman, & Krugel, 1992).
Conclusion
The above sections explore the comprehension of violence and victimization. Information discussed above came from published scholarly work and a government website. The issues discussed above are diverse and this paper did not exhaust them. It would be appropriate to conduct a wider exploratory study to grasp fully each aspect of violence and victimization. Nevertheless, this paper demonstrated that there are various forms of violence and perception of victimization differs among individuals and societies. Research and policies concerning the subject usually arise from the theoretical understanding as well as the majority concern for a given type victims in the society.
References
Googlin, W. E., & Dunn, C. S. (2009). Three patterns of domestic violence in households: Single victimization, repeat victimization and co-occuring victimization. Journal of Family Violence, 25, 107-122.
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. (2010). Types of Violence and Abuse. Web.
Popescu, M. L., Drumm, R., & Dewan, S. (2010). Childhood victimizatioin and its impact on coping behaviors for victims of intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence, 25, 575-585.
Rose, C. A., Monda-Amaya, L. E., & Espelage, D. L. (2011). Bullying perpetration and victimization in special education: A review of the literature. Remedial and Special Education, 32(2), 114-130.
Schurink, W. J., Synman, I., & Krugel, W. F. (Eds.). (1992). Victimization: nature and trends. Pretoria: HSRC Publishers.
Stevens, S., & Korchmaros, J. D. (2010). A comparison of victimization and perpetration of intimate partner violence among drug abusing heterosexual and lesbian women. Journal of Family Violence, 25, 639-649.