Revisiting the 'Ideal Victim': Developments in Critical Victimology

Description

Revisiting the ‘Ideal Victim’ is a collection of academic responses to the late Nils Christie’s (1986) seminal piece on the ‘ideal victim’ in which he addressed the socially constructed concept of an idealised form of victim status or identity. Highlighting the complex factors informing the application or rejection of victim status, Christie foregrounded the role of subjective and objective perspectives on personal and societal responses to victimisation. In sum, the ‘ideal victim’ is: “a person or category of individuals, who – when hit by crime – most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim” (1986: 18, original italics). This concept has become one of the most frequently cited themes of victimological (and, where relevant, criminological) academic scholarship over the past thirty years. In commemoration of his contribution, this volume analyses, evaluates and critiques the current nature and impact of victim identity, experience, policy and practice in light of Christie’s framework. Demonstrating how the very notion of what constitutes a ‘victim’ has undergone significant theorisation, evaluation and reconceptualization in the intervening three decades, the academic contributors in this volume excellently showcase the relevance of this ‘ideal victim’ concept to a range of contemporary victimological issues. In sum, the chapters critically evaluate the salience of Christie’s concept in a modern context while demonstrating its influence over the decades.. Introduction Marian Duggan The Ideal Victim Nils Christie1 Part I Exploring the ‘Ideal Victim’ One The ideal victim through other(s’) eyes Alice Bosma, Eva Mulder and Antony Pemberton Two Creating ideal victims in hate crime policy Hannah Mason-Bish Three The lived experiences of veiled Muslim women as ‘undeserving’ victims of Islamophobia Irene Zempi Four Being ‘ideal’ or falling short? The legitimacy of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender victims of domestic violence and hate crime Catherine Donovan and Rebecca Barnes Five New victimisations: female sex worker hate crime and the ‘ideal victim’ Karen Corteen Six The ‘ideal migrant victim’ in human rights courts: between vulnerability and otherness Carolina Yoko Furusho Seven ‘Our most precious possession of all’1: the survivor of non-recent childhood sexual abuse as the ideal victim? Sinéad Ring Eight ‘Idealising’ domestic violence victims Marian Duggan Nine Environmental crime, victimisation, and the ideal victim Pamela Davies Part II Exploring the ‘Non-Ideal’ Victim Ten Revisiting the non-ideal victim Stephanie Fohring Eleven Conceptualising victims of antisocial behaviour is far from ‘ideal’ Vicky Heap Twelve The ‘ideal’ rape victim and the elderly woman: a contradiction in terms? Hannah Bows Thirteen Denying victim status to online fraud victims: the challenges of being a ‘non-ideal victim’ Cassandra Cross Fourteen Male prisoners’ vulnerabilities and the ideal victim concept Jennifer Anne Sloan Rainbow Fifteen A decade after Lynndie: non-ideal victims of non-ideal offenders – doubly anomalised, doubly invisibilised Claire Cohen Sixteen Towards an inclusive victimology and a new understanding of public compassion to victims: from and beyond Christie’s ideal victim Jorge Gracia Conclusion