Patterns of Victimisation - Positivist Victimology | A-Level Sociology

welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at patterns of victimization focusing on positivist victimology victimology is the term given to the study of victims of crime and there are two main forms of victimology that sociologists are concerned with positivist victimology a more conservative view of victims that examines a range of factors that lead

to an individual becoming a victim of crime and critical victimology aligned with the ideas of critical criminology and examining the structural factors that make individuals vulnerable to crime in this video we're going to focus on the approach of positivist victimology maya's identified three features of positivist victimology firstly positivist victimology identifies factors linked to the

individual and make them susceptible to being a victim of crime in other words their personal characteristics secondly positivist victimology focuses on the relationships between offenders and their victims particularly in violent and sexual crimes with an emphasis on the cause of their altercations finally positivist victimology also focuses on examining ways in which the

victim may have contributed to becoming a victim themselves looking at behaviors such as their appearance their lifestyle and their behaviors in the lead-up to the crime hindelangel used a positivist victimology approach in assessing the individual and environmental factors that led to the person becoming a victim of crime they identified five factors that made

individuals more susceptible to crime including age gender marital status family income and their ethnic background they also suggested that those in public spaces of an evening were more likely to be victims of crime however critics of hindelang at al have accused them of relying upon stereotypes in their construction of victims rather than examining what motivates