2. Criminal
victimisation
■ Criminal victimisation refers to a person being the
victim of a violent crime (rape or sexual assault,
robbery, aggravated or simple assault) or a
property crime (burglary and theft).
■ People with a severe mental illness may be at
higher risk of criminal victimisation.
■ This may be a result of possible cognitive
impairment (e.g. poor reality testing, judgment,
social skills, planning, and problem solving), and
sometimes compromised social situations (e.g.
poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and social
isolation).
3. Who are
victims?
■ Victims are, by definition, those people who
have been harmed or "scarred" physically and/or
psychologically by crimes against them or their
property.
■ It also makes sense to include "co-victims" of
various sorts in this definition because the impact
or "touch" of victimization is wide-reaching and
includes family survivors, friends and
acquaintances, co-workers, classmates,
neighborhoods, communities, regions, and
sometimes whole nations.
■ It also makes sense to include helpers of victims
as victims themselves.
4. Who are
victims?
■ Victims react differently to the same kind of crime, is
based on their pre-morbid personality. Like a victim of
mobile snatching can react completely differently to the
same street crime. One can think as if end of the world
and other can thank Allah for not having a big loss.
■ In general, violent crime such as rape,
aggravated assault, homicide and alcohol-related
vehicular homicide produce more crime-related
psychological distress than property crimes like burglary.
Also, victims' appraisals of how dangerous the crime was
are related to crime related psychological trauma.
■ In particular, a belief that one might have been seriously
injured or killed in a crime is a more powerful predictor of
distress than objective factors such as physical injury,
force and use of a weapon.
■ Prior history of most mental disorders did not increase risk
of developing PTSD after experiencing a stressful, violent
crime. However, a history of major depression did increase
the risk that PTSD would develop, but only if the crime was
highly stressful.
■ This suggests that victims with PTSD or depression may be
particularly vulnerable to crime-related psychological
trauma, but also confirms the important role played by the
stressful nature of the crime itself.
5. Effects and
consequences
of criminal
victimization
■ There are various effects and consequences of
criminal victimization that can have a negative
impact on a victim.
■ Costs of victimization refers to how a person
reacts to becoming a victim and the physical
damages and financial damages caused by the
person committing the crime.
■ Primary costs
■ Secondary costs
6. Costs of
victimization
■ Primary costs of victimization include the costs
that occur as a direct result of the crime. The
primary costs that a victim suffers depend on the
person themselves and the severity and type of
crime that has occurred, for example, a woman who
has been physically abused by her spouse.
■ Secondary costs include the costs that occur if a
victim does not receive the resources and
compensation they need. When a victim does not
receive the resources or compensation they need,
they may feel that they have been victimized yet
again.
■ For example, a police officer who fails to recognize
that a woman is the victim of domestic violence can
lead to the woman not only feeling victimized by her
spouse but by the police officer as well. There are
several effects and consequences of criminal
victimization, such as emotional stress, financial
losses, and physical injuries. These consequences
will be discussed in further detail down below.
7. Legal rights of victims
■ To be informed of the place where they may receive medical and social
services
■ To be informed of public and private programs available for counseling,
treatment, and other support services
■ To receive reasonable protection from a suspected offender and persons acting
in concert with or at the behest of the suspected offender
■ To know the status of the investigation of the crime, to the extent it is
appropriate and will not interfere with the investigation
■ To have personal property being held for evidentiary purposes maintained in
good condition and returned as soon as it is no longer needed for evidentiary
purposes
8. Victim
Support
Techniques used to provide support
■ Empathy
■ Empathy is appreciation of victim’s problems and
feelings without experiencing the same emotional
■ reaction. To be distinguished from sympathy, that
is usually non-objective and non-critical.
■ Emotional Support
■ Also known as holding, like a mother holds child.
An emotional support that is provided to prop up
the healing process.
9. Victim
Support
■ Art therapy
■ Victims are allows to draw, paint and
colour, what ever they feel in response to
that particular crime experience.
■ And as therapy proceeds and client is
asked to revisit the trauma and they try
to paint and colour that trauma. But this
is to do with great care and usually used
in very few cases
10. Victim
Support
■ Music Therapy
■ “Music Therapy is the clinical and
evidence-based use of music
interventions to accomplish
individualized goals within a
therapeutic relationship by a
credentialed professional who has a
completed an approved music therapy
program.”
■ Helps victim to deal with the
psychological problems that have aroused
as the result of crime. Music therapy can
be vital in helping heal the pain of
traumatised victims.
11. Victim
Support
■ Music therapy is used in two ways
a. A soothing music is played and victim is
asked to relax and some times client is
asked to re-visit the trauma
through imagery to reduce the bad
effect in relaxed and safe
environment.
b. Some Instruments are placed in front of
clients and they are allowed to play
them and provide an outlet to
problematic emotions.
12. Victim
Support
■ Drama Therapy
■ Drama therapy can be effectively used to
relieve the trauma through drama and
role playing. Client can explore the whole
range of experiences playing different
kinds of roles. Comedy dramas are also
used to weaken colour of traumatic
experiences.
13. Victim
Support
■ Externalization
■ Externalization means to put something
outside of its original borders, especially
to put a human feeling outside of the
human body and naming and then
painting that feeling.
■ We will use his differently while working
with victims, so they are asked to draw
their PTSD, draw a picture of pathology
externalize them and name it. Naming is
predominantly important as by naming we
are confining a separate psychological
space for the problem.
