Focus: Dealing with Crime Victims
Dealing with Victims of Intimate Crimes
Crime Scenario: Date Rape
What is the primary status of the victim?
Trainers should know that when it comes to date-rape cases, victims are usually in shock and are disillusioned about the idea of being abused by their date. There are instances when victims have been with the assailant for quite some time and there are instances when they have met their dates for the first time. In this particular case, the assailant shall be considered to be in connection with the victim for quite some time. In a way, this is the reason why the involvement of the need to define the psychological theory of attachment. Law enforcers who are being trained to deal with victims of intimate crimes should know so much about how to handle issues of attachment, something that might cloud the decisions and the manner by which the victims may relate how the situations turn out.
How could the concept of attachment theory be given attention to?
When investigating on the matter based on the statements of the victim, trainers must remind law enforcers in the field to determine particular factors that shall identify well with the concept of lying and making up situations due to the manner by which she or he has been attached with the assailant. Teaching them how to handle the need of getting more accurate report from the victims, the law enforcers who are investigating first hand through victim’s statement shall make it easier for the said individuals to make a connection with the victims allowing them to better relate their case as needed. This will allow them to become more effective in decreasing rate of mistakes in the process of investigating on the case and bringing out the facts from the statements of the victim.
Dealing with Victims of Stranger Crimes
Crime Scenario: Holdup
What reaction from the victims should be expected?
Victims of holdup cases in the street are usually shocked and traumatized because of experiencing near-death situations through undergoing the need to survive from the hands of a holdup assailant who might have threatened their lives during the attack. It is evidently true that when it comes to dealing with these cases, law enforcers in the field need to know that victims are often held in surprise and thus undergo a specific point of panic. Hence, when the victim finally reaches the attention of the police officers in the area, they often present a traumatized reaction. The need to calm the victims down is necessary before getting any specific statement from them.
How could the competence of the law enforcer be developed through proper management of victims?
This is the reason why it is very important for on-field law enforcers to become more effective in looking after situations that impose a distinct impact on the concentration of the victim and their capacity to provide reliable data about what actually happened during the holdup attack. What makes the approach effective is the capacity of the law enforcer to put the victim in a more controlled state hence allowing the possibility of managing the process of getting statement as fast as necessary to be able to make implicative information that could be passed on to be able to catch the assailant at the closest possible time.
Summary and Points to Ponder
What must be taught by the trainers towards the law enforcers on the field is that when it comes to the concept of victimology, the focus is on the possibility of protecting the victims from second attacks. The secondary goal is to get as much information from the victims to be able to pass on data that would make it easier for the assailant to be caught and justice be served accordingly. On the other hand, the concept of criminology is focused on how the crime has been committed and finding a way to utilize available data to locate, assure and catch the assailant in the shortest time possible. Both concepts are related to each other; hence should be used accordingly by the law enforcers situated in the field.
Practically, through this curriculum of training, the trainers could summarize the whole presentation through pointing out that caring for the victims is an utmost goal, as it is through this approach that the accurate information needed to catch the assailants could be collected and used accordingly. Focusing on the victims and their capability to help resolve the problem shall provide police officers in the field to be more effective in pointing out what happened, investigating through the situation and putting the right individuals behind bars to immediately control the situation. Overall, the determination of the law enforcers to become more effective in assisting victims shall provide them with the competence they need to respond to what case-solving options require. With this in mind, the trainers could assure the fact that the trainees should know the basics of the process of dealing with the victims and using them as an asset for the sake of solving the case.
References:
Hickey, Eric W. (2006). Victims. In Serial murderers and their victims (4th ed., pp. 260–262). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group
Miethe, Terance D. (1985). The Myth or reality of victim involvement in crime: A Review and comment on victim-precipitation research. Sociological focus, 18(3), 209–220
Godwin, Maurice (1998). Victim target networks as solvability factors in serial murder. Social behavioral and personality, 26(1), 75–84
Harris, Robert. Crime, criminal justice, and the probation service, (Routledge, 1992) (citing Mendelsohn 1963), found at Google Books.
