Victimization: Journey of the Victim

The globe at large is facing a growth in the number of crimes. The rise in crime adversely impacts people. The victim and the accused are the parties associated with a crime. While the accused go through judicial proceedings, the victims receive the punishment for the crime that they didn’t even commit through various sources. This article focuses on the victims, victimization, and various aspects of the same.

Introduction

Crime in India has been recorded since time immemorial, with comprehensive statistics now compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

As of 2019, a total of 51, 56, 172 cognizable crimes comprising 32,25,701 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 19,30,471 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were registered nationwide. Showing a 1.6% annual increase in the registration of cases (50,74,635 cases), the crime rate per 100,000 population has increased from 383.5 in 2018 to 385.5 in 2019. More than a fifth of all registered crime was classified as offenses affecting the human body, which included murder, kidnapping, assault, and death by negligence.

Few reasons for committing a crime include:

• greed,

• anger,

• jealously,

• revenge, or

• pride.

• material desire

• impulse

• adrenaline rush

Some people commit a crime and carefully plan everything to increase gain and decreased risk. Some are making choices about their behavior; some even consider a life of crime better than a regular job—believing crime brings in greater rewards, admiration, and excitement—at least until they are caught.

The Indian justice administration has strongly advocated the idea of preventing crime along with the treatment and rehabilitation of criminals. Victims on the other hand have no right under the criminal justice system. The punishment for such crimes is decided by treating the victim as a mere witness.

Meaning of “Victim”

Dictionary meaning of victim:

• A person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.

• A person who is tricked or duped.

• A person who has come to feel helpless and passive in the face of misfortune or ill-treatment.

• A living creature killed as a religious sacrifice.

In simple terms, the victim is the person who has been harmed or injured either physically or mentally. The victim need not mandatorily have physical injuries. The presence of either of the two injuries would include the sufferer into the ambit of the term victim.

The victim is decided based on his declaration, irrespective of whether the perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted, or convicted. There have been instances where the term may include the immediate family members and the dependents of the victim.

Meaning of “Victimization”

Dictionary meaning of victimization:

• Victimization is defined as causing someone to be treated unfairly or made to feel as if he is in a bad position.

• An act that victimizes or exploits someone

There is a close relationship between the offending party and the victimization. There have been instances that the victims and offenders are almost interchangeable. This way we can say that victimization is the relationship between the victim and accused, there is no exact definition available. Victimization is a complex process comprising of several elements namely:

Primary Victimization There may be certain physical effects arising from the crime which shall include a high degree of pain along with loss of dexterity, a certain level of incapacity, and/or temporary or permanent disfigurement. The majority of crimes also have financial effects. Generally, they result in additional costs in seeking medical treatment, or legal advice, or loss of income. Some crimes also have psychological and emotional effects such as depression, anxiety that hurt the quality of life of the victim.

• Secondary/ Post crime/ Double Victimization

This element occurs through the response of various institutions and individuals to the victim and not as the direct result of the crime. The most common secondary victimization is institutionalized secondary victimization. At times it leads to completes denial of human rights through refusal to recognize their experience as criminal victimization. The process of criminal investigation and trial can cause secondary victimization. Major victims find themselves derogated post the crime thus ultimately hampering their self-esteem.

• Re Victimization

When the victim of a certain crime undergoes a similar offense it is known as Revictimization. It mainly occurs due to the victim living or being associated with the offender. Some may arise due to the location of the victim or their residence. Such an element is delusional to victims and increases the psychological trauma of the event.

• Self Victimization

Self-victimization is like a mirage. It depicts as if a person is a victim of a particular which in reality he/she is not subject to. The psychology of such victims would include helplessness, passivity, loss of control, pessimism, negative thinking, guilt, shame, self-blame, and depression.

Meaning of victimology:

The majority of theories identify victimology as an independent area of inquiry while others advocate science as a subfield of criminology. Victimology can be defined as the psychology of the victim but directly related to the behavior of the offender.

Consequences of victimization:

Victims go through various consequences ranging from financial impact to psychological impact. United Nations handbook divides the impact of crime into:

• The physical and financial impact

The crime generally has a physical impact on the victim, which very general in nature. The victim may experience permanent or temporary incapacity due to the event. Moreover, the victim has to pay frequent visits to the medical practitioner which would surely ham, per the financial background of the victim. The crime may also have a long-lasting impact by impairing the earning capacity of the victim.

• The psychological and social cost

The victim often under a lot of mental trauma. Not only the trauma but society is also in general not ready to accept the victims as human. They always look down upon the victim which ultimately harms the confidence of the latter and leaves a lifelong scar on him/her.

• Secondary victimization

The victim has to undergo secondary victimization. As mentioned earlier they are subject to tedious trial procedures as well as degradation by various institutions. Even when the victims think of growing through this phase such individuals and institutions observe everything within their power to bring them back down.

United Nations Declaration on Basic Principles of Justice for victims of crime and abuse of power

The declaration includes the impact of victimization as well as the role of various victim assistance programs. The declaration so includes the role and responsibilities of front line professionals and others to victims. The role of civil society is also enshrined in the declaration.

According to the declaration, the victim support programs should offer crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy, support during the investigation of the crime, support during prosecution and trial, support during case disposition, training of professionals, public education service, prevention services, establishing standards of good practice and code of ethics.

In India, the following are available for the pretty section of the victims:

• Constitution

The legislative power is vested with the Union Government as well as the State Legislature. The Union Government frames the law about subjects under the Union list. The State Government frames law about subjects under the State list. The Constitution grants fundamental rights to the citizens of India.

• Indian Penal code

The Indian Penal code deals with various crimes and their punishment along with their criminal procedure to be followed by agencies.

• Code of criminal procedure

The Code of criminal procedure is also of a similar nature as that of the Indian penal code. These acts have precedence over the state acts and apply to the whole of India.

• Indian evidence act

Conclusion

We can say that there are various laws relating to the victim and their protection. The question before us is its implementation. There is a provision of compensation and protection of victims but the question is whether this is sufficient for victims. According to the UN declaration, there should be a law on it and that is the reason for which India has made a law for victims. The Indian criminal justice system has mostly emphasized the accuse only and not the victim, which we can see.

Victimization is the relationship between victim and offender, and victimology is a science of study of victimization. When we see that there is a direct relationship between offender and victim it is very difficult to protect the victim from the offender and I think that this is the only reason for the very low rate of conviction in our country.

There are various countries in which the victim protection program is going on and the result is very good as there is no scope of any temporizing the victim or witness. If the victim feels safe then only they can speak in courts. When the victim is easily approached by the offender it is really difficult to work even police are not taking proper note of these issues.

When a person is suffering from such mental trauma it is very difficult to work with them and so we have to study the science behind it. And by using the scientific method we can get the result and make some good for the victim. According to me, I don’t find the concept of victimology in practice in general, it is only on paper in our country. If we take a serious note of it then our criminal justice system will improve a lot and will bring some positive change in the governance of the nation.

Author - Devyani Bhati

MKES college of law