WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION

Running head: WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION
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WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION
Introduction
The assignment aims to provide credible solution to the question as to what are the
effects of criminal victimization in the Canadian context. Victimization refers to the crime of
victimizing someone by committing a crime against that person. According to the Bureau of
Justice Statistics for the United States, victimization is “a crime as it affects one individual
person or household” (Bjs.gov). Thus, victimization is a crime that has to be tackled as it is one
of the biggest issues faced by the law enforcement. In the Canadian context, criminal
victimization has been an issue that has seen a steep rise in the past few years. It has a serious
affect on the wellbeing of the victims and their friends and families as well as the entire
community and society.
The essay will first define and describe criminal victimization elaborately followed by the
effects of criminal victimization and the theories to tackle the crime. The theories that will be
used to explain criminal victimization and tackle it are the social structure theory and the
individual trait theory of crime. The social structure theory helps understand any crime from an
integrated perspective while individual trait theory relates to the personality of the criminal.
Discussion
Criminal victimization
Criminal victimization has been understood in Canada from the experiences of people
facing victimization. The General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization conducted by Statistics
Canada revealed different definitions of criminal victimization. Three categories of criminal
victimization have been found with several sub-categories – violent victimization, theft of
personal property and household victimization ("Criminal Victimization In Canada, 2014").

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WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION
Violent victimization refers to crimes like robbery, sexual assault or physical assault. Theft of
personal property like credit, cards, jewelry, clothing and such are crimes where the offender and
victim do not confront each other unlike robbery. Household victimization includes crimes like
breaking and entering, theft of motor vehicles of its parts, vandalism and theft of household
property. Breaking and entering is a crime where the criminal victimizes an individual by
entering illegally in a residence or any other building. Vandalism on the other hand refers to the
“willful damage of personal or household property” ("Criminal Victimization In Canada, 2014").
A look at the current statistics on crime in Canada reveals that criminal victimization has
increased quite remarkably in the past few years. According to the Crime Severity Index (CSI),
police-reported crime has seen an increase of 2% in 2018 to 75 from 73.6 in 2017. However, the
index has been lower in 2018 if compared to the 2008 index by 17%. Out of the 73.6%, criminal
victimization of all categories has been the highest. Sexual assault increased by 15% while
crimes relating to fraud have witnessed an increase of 13% in 2018 ("Police-Reported Crime
Statistics In Canada, 2018"). Shoplifting and theft of under and over 5000 dollars increased by
15% respectively as well. However, there has been a decline of 1% in the breaking and entering
rate amongst offences of other kinds. This somehow mitigated the severity of police-reported
crime in Canada. In contrast to these statistics, the 2014 data showed that there was a remarkable
decrease in criminal victimization as reported by the Canadian people. The rate of violent
victimization in 2014 had decreased to less than 70% owing to the decline in offences involving
sexual assault, physical assault and other such cases.
Effects of criminal victimization