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Victim
Definition
The word ‘victim’ is generally used to refer to someone who has suffered some kind of harm or misfortune, however, in the context of policing it is normally used to refer to the complainant of a crime.
Distinctive Features
Historically police work has been generated by, and has relied upon the victim (the complainant) for much of its workload despite popular and police cultural presumptions that the prime concern of police work is catching criminals. The importance of the victim to police work lies both in relation to their willingness to report a criminal event and in their willingness to act as a witness following the instigation of court proceedings. Arguably, as crime rates have risen in different international contexts, policing has become much more focused on ...
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