A victim is a person who is harmed by the actions of another person or as the result of circumstance. Blaming the victim occurs when people hold the victim [Page 121]responsible for his or her suffering. When people blame the victim, they attribute the cause of the victim's suffering to the behaviors or characteristics of the victim, instead of attributing the cause to a perpetrator or situational factors.

Ironically, victim blame often stems from a desire to see the world as a just and fair place where people get what they deserve. This belief in a just world lets people confront the world as though it were stable and orderly. If people did not believe in a just world, it would be difficult ...