Victimology

The social-scientific study of victims and the social, psychological, physical, and financial harms that they suffer as a result of victimization. Those who study victimology are interested not just in the victim and the victim-offender relationship but also in the ways in which victims are treated by the criminal justice system, the media, and the public more generally. Victimologists study why some people are targeted for victimization while others are not and why some are more prepared to take risks associated with an enhanced probability for victimization. Victimology is a social science, and although some victimologists study non-criminal victimization, victimology is usually considered a subfield of criminology. As social scientists, victimol-ogists are researchers as opposed to advocates or practitioners.