Society and the criminal justice system blame victims who are involved in certain crimes for attracting the offenders (Sampson and Lauritsen, 2011). Crimes that have victim precipitation include rape, homicide, and burglary among others. A victim of rape may be said to have dressed seductively to provoke the offender to commit the crime. Another reason for rape maybe that someone walked in the dark/at night, stayed in segregated places, or was without any form of protection. Rape victims are blamed for provoking the offenders into committing the crime (Timmer and Norman, 2011).
The second crime that has a lot of victim precipitation is burglary. In this type of crime, the victim may be blamed to have caused the crime by not locking the door, leaving lights on, and failure to effect or implement crime prevention measures such as having cameras around the house or putting emergence alarm on (Sampson and Lauritsen, 2011). Individuals who experience burglary are blamed for attracting the offenders. Such victims are blamed for causing the crime to occur because they failed to take appropriate protective and preventive measures (Timmer and Norman, 2011).
Homicide is termed as an act of human killing another human (Timmer and Norman, 2011). It may refer to a situation in which individuals engage in a life-threatening act. Such acts/ actions can force police officers or other people to kill an individual (the victim). In such a case, victims are accused or blamed for having suicidal thoughts. In some cases, an individual is stabbed to death and the offender blames the victim by saying that the victim had psychological problems (Timmer and Norman, 2011).
However, police fail to carry out comprehensive investigations to identify whether the victim was suicidal or not. Police have been accused of killing people on prejudgment other than on facts. For these reasons, people involved in homicide are blamed for causing the crime (Timmer and Norman, 2011).
It is assumed that some crimes are caused by individuals and can be prevented by the victims but not the Criminal Justice System (Sampson and Lauritsen, 2011). Such crimes include rape, robbery, and homicide. Because of this, victim precipitation is not fair and should not be used to destruct attention from crimes committed (Sampson and Lauritsen, 2011). The victim is not to blame for having played a role in the occurrence of any crime.
This is not fair and no one should bear the blame for any crime that is committed against him or her by others. This is because an offender plays a major in deciding whether to commit a crime or not regardless of the opportunities available (Timmer and Norman, 2011). For example, not all men who will see a woman dressed seductively will rape her. The victim should not be said to be the primary cause of any crime committed against him or her because the decision to commit a crime lies entirely on offenders.
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