Lifestyle Victimization Theory (Essay Sample)
Apply one of the Theories of Victimization to a real life crime situation in your area.
Example - I sat on the jury for "Bob" who had shot and killed a member of a rival gang. Bob had been warned that he would be killed if he came into the rival's territory. The gang had even killed Bob's cousin a month earlier. However, Bob chose to visit a friend who lived in the area the rivals had warned him about and even carried a pistol in his vehicle for good measure. Upon arrival at his friend's residence, Bob was jumped by the rival gang. Bob pulled the gun and shot one of the gang members. Even though the man Bob shot supposedly did not have a gun, the defense attorney argued that eye witness accounts proved that the deceased had withdrawn is hand from his jacket pocket with his index finger pointed toward Bob. The jury ruled that a reasonable person would have agreed with Bob's assumption that the deceased had a gun and that his life was being threatened. I believe that is a clear case of active victim participation. Unfortunately, the actions and gestures of the deceased led to his own demise.
Name
Name of the course
26th, October 2014
Lifestyle Victimization Theory
Criminology and the criminal justice system have been focusing on gaining insight regarding criminal offending as compared to criminal victimization. However, there has been a paradigm shift that has been brought about by scientific advancement and social and political forces. These have acted as the foundation for the emergence of the theories of victimization (Wilcox, 2010). An example of these theories is the lifestyle-exposure theory. This theory indicates that the risk of being criminally victimized is dependent on the individual’s proximity/exposure to populations characterized as being offenders. This is dependent on the lifestyle and daily activities of the individual (Wilcox, 2010). The individual has an increased likelihood of interacting with individuals whom they possess similar characteristics hence the risk of victimization is directly proportional to characteristics they share with the offenders (Wilcox, 2010).
For instance, I recently read a Newspaper and in a small column at the back of the paper a specific story caught my attention that related to some arrested sexual offenders that lived close to my neighborhood. As I was reading the names of these offenders, I was shocked to see the name "Jesse" a neighbor that had been recently expelled from school for being intoxicated with marijuana and fighting with fellow students. "Jesse" had a free pass at the local club despite being under age where most of the neighborhood criminals met to pass time. There were a lot of drugs in the club and frequent reports of violence and disturbance within and close to the club.
On that particular day, "Jesse" went to the club as usual as reported on the paper, and at about 11 p.m. some of the revelers after taking drugs went out. It was a group of two white and a Latin American male. They harassed a few women on the streets and ...
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