The profile of a victim is as important to a criminal investigation as the profiling of the perpetrator of the crime. The information is gathered in a scientific method by forensic victimologists, looking through various parts of the victim’s life and the criminal act itself. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Most commonly, forensic victimologists serve investigations and court proceedings in the following ways:
1. To assist with contextualizing allegations of victimization
2. To help support or refute allegations of victimization
3. To help establish the nature of victim exposure to harm or loss
4. To assist with the development of offender modus operandi and motive
5. To help establish an investigative suspect pool
6. To assist with the investigative linkage of unsolved crimes.”
During the profiling of a victim, a forensic victimologist must follow various rules and processes to make the profile valid. One of the most important rules for a forensic victimologist is to avoid coming up with their own biases. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “There are at least two kinds of bias that forensic examiners need to be aware of and mitigate in their casework in order to maintain their professional lens: observer bias and confirmation bias… Observer bias is the conscious or unconscious tendency to see or find what one expects to find… Confirmation bias is the conscious or unconscious tendency to affirm previous theories, opinions, or findings.” Both these biases can create an opinion or opinions that might affect the results of the victim’s profile, affecting the outcome of the criminal investigation.
A forensic victimologist also must look over all evidence, including the crime scene, with a scientific and professional manner. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Forensic examiners must define the scope of evidence and information they need in order to perform an adequate examination by making a formal request to the client, employer, or the requesting agency. This includes anything regarding the crime scene, any evidence collected and tested, investigative efforts and interviews, and forensic examinations performed on the victim. Once they receive the evidence, they must determine what has been made available and what is missing.” A forensic victimologist must not allow their opinion to affect the outcome of the information gathered from the evidence and they must not try to find something that is not there. This could affect the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Knowing the lifestyle and background of the victim, is as important as knowing the lifestyle and background of the perpetrator of the criminal action. But to know the victim’s lifestyle and background is not to excuse the crime or its perpetrator. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “…it is necessary to remind ourselves that studying different aspects of victimology to identity harm and causative influence is not about blaming a victim for his or her demise {or injury}. Or more precisely, it is not the explicit purpose of the forensic victimology to determine whether victims are necessarily to blame for the crimes that are committed against them.” What this means is that even if the victim chose to walk down a dark alleyway, it was not the right of the perpetrator to murder or attack them. A person should have the right to walk anywhere safely, whether it is a crowded street during the day or a dark alleyway at night, without the fear of some type of victimization.
The victim’s background and lifestyle may help with finding connections and risks that may have exposed them to the perpetrator and their behavior and criminal act. Lifestyle exposure of the victim is an important factor in finding the answers to why a crime has been committed and who did it. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Victim lifestyle exposure is concerned with studying the potentially harmful elements that exist in a victim’s everyday life as a consequence of biological and environmental factors, as well as past choices. Lifestyle exposure is different from situational exposure. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “…situational exposure…refers to harmful elements experienced by the victim resulting from his or her environment and personal traits at the time of victimization.”
The concept of lifestyle exposure comes from various ideas and theories of victim precipitation. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Victim precipitation theorists first introduced the argument that the dynamics of the criminal act cannot be fully understood solely by looking at the characteristics of the perpetrator but rather must encompass an examination of the role of the victim.” Both the perpetrator and the victim carry clues to why the crime occurred and if both sides are not studied half of the story is missing.
Victim precipitation can be passive or active. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Passive precipitation occurs when the victim exhibits some personal characteristic that unknowingly threatens or encourages the attacker. The victim is more exposed to harm because of an offender’s perception of conflict during personal interaction. The conflict need not be actual; it may be the result of misperception, misunderstanding, or subconscious influence… Active precipitation refers to those situations in which the victim directly provokes the offender. These provocations can range from insults to physical assault.”
Victim situational exposure is as important as knowing the lifestyle and background of the victim. Turvey and Petherick (2011) states: “Victim situational exposure is the amount of actual exposure or vulnerability experienced by the victim to harm, resulting from the environment and personal traits, at the time of victimization.” There are various factors that affect the exposure and vulnerability of a victim of a crime at the time that the victimization occurs.
Turvey and Petherick (2011) define six important factors:
1. “Time of occurrence: Certain times of day can result in more exposure to various kinds of harm than others. However, any interpretation of the impact of this factor is highly dependent on the location of occurrence as well as other converging circumstances.
2. Location of occurrence: Location is one of the most important factors to consider in terms of victim situational exposure. Certain environments contain a great deal of criminal activity; others may place a victim outside the immediate reach of assistance, and still others may physically isolate or confine the victim.
3. Proximity to criminal activity: {The} nearness in space, time, or relationship to criminal activity increases one’s incident exposure. This can include victim nearness to crime and criminals, or direct victim participation and involvement in criminal activity. The more violent associated with a proximal crime, the greater subsequent victim exposure to harm.
4. Proximity to criminal, violent, or aggressive individuals: This type of proximity involves the issue of proximity to criminal behavior. However, it focuses specifically on individuals in the immediate environment, with their particular history of crime, violence, and aggression, or lack thereof. That is to say, one can be around such individuals at a given moment while they are not engaged in violent, aggressive, or criminal activity. Yet the reality of increased victim exposure remains.
5. Availability of weapons: The availability of any weapon or material in a given environment increases the likelihood that it will be used in a physical altercation, should one ensue, or that someone will accidentally injure him or herself or others while handling it for any number of legitimate or illegitimate purposes.
6. Victim state of mind or perception: This factor refers to the victim’s emotional state before, during, and following an attack as evidenced by convergent patterns of behavior and any reliable witness accounts.
7. Drug and alcohol use: The use of mind-altering substances may decrease physical reaction time, impair judgment, and alter one’s perception of reality. In either drug or alcohol use, victim situational exposure is increased dramatically, even for otherwise low-exposure victims.”
Tiefenwerth, Thomas (2012) Class Handout and Power Point Presentation. CCJ 407: Seminar: Forensic Victimology.
Turvey, B., & Petherick, W. (2011). Forensic victimology. Academic Press. Amsterdam: Elsevier
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