The classic work that refutes the lies we tell ourselves about race, poverty and the poor. Here are three myths about poverty in America: – Minority children perform poorly in school because they are “culturally deprived.” – African-Americans are handicapped by a family structure that is typically unstable and matriarchal. – Poor people suffer from bad health because of ignorance and lack of interest in proper health care. Blaming the Victim was the first book to identify these truisms as part of the system of denial that even the best-intentioned Americans have constructed around the unpalatable realities of race and class. Originally published in 1970, William Ryan's groundbreaking and exhaustively researched work challenges both liberal and conservative assumptions, serving up a devastating critique of the mindset that causes us to blame the poor for their poverty and the powerless for their powerlessness. More than twenty years later, it is even more meaningful for its diagnosis of the psychic underpinnings of racial and social injustice.

Previous research has indicated that many factors, including just world beliefs, rape myth acceptance, gender role norms, and sexism can increase victim-blaming toward sexual assault victims. However, these factors have not been studied together to predict victim-blaming. Additionally, past studies have shown discrepancies in victim-blaming based on the gender of the victim and the crime that is committed, though the research is inconclusive about the direction of the discrepancies. Our study assessed victim-blame towards victims of different genders and different crimes, just world beliefs, rape myth acceptance, gender role norms, and sexism to identify predictors of victim-blame. Rape myth acceptance, gender role norms, and sexism were predictive of victim-blame; just world beliefs were not. Additionally, victim-blame had an inverse relationship with perpetrator punishment. Crime and gender discrepancies are discussed. These constructs may impact sexual assault victims both personally and in the legal system and are worthy of further study.

This work looks at the topic of victimisation and blame as a pathology for our time, and its consequences for personal responsibility.

Nils Christie’s (1986) seminal work on the ‘Ideal Victim’ is reproduced in full in this edited collection of vibrant and provocative essays that respond to and update the concept from a range of thematic positions. Each chapter celebrates and commemorates his work by analysing, evaluating and critiquing the current nature and impact of victim identity, experience, policy and practice. The collection expands the focus and remit of ‘victim studies’, addressing key themes around race, gender, faith, ability and age while encompassing new and diverse issues. Examples include sex workers as victims of hate crimes, victims’ experiences of online fraud, and recognising historic child sexual abuse victims in Ireland. With contributions from an array of academics including Vicky Heap (Sheffield Hallam University), Hannah Mason-Bish (University of Sussex) and Pamela Davies (Northumbria University), as well as a Foreword by David Scott (The Open University), this book evaluates the contemporary relevance and applicability of Christie’s ‘Ideal Victim’ concept and creates an important platform for thinking differently about victimhood in the 21st century.

This book focuses on varied practical and theoretical issues of the science of victims, Victimology. Featuring a foreword and epilogue by leading victimologists, and fifteen original essays by leading as well as by young international victimologists, Trends and issues in Victimology, illustrates how victimization is currently perceived. This edited collection describes how the victim’s right for privacy is deprived for the benefit of the accused and the public interest, and how special needs populations are exposed to revictimization during criminal proceedings. It also delineates specific characteristics of stalking victims, sexual abused victims, and victims in work place. Several recommendations and solutions in order to balance the justice system and improve the victims of crime situation are presented in this book. Practical modifications such as the adoption of the principle of restitution in the penal code as a framework for building evidence of victim legislation and policy, and the incorporation of the victim’s therapy and restorative justice proceedings into the criminal justice system, are suggested. Theoretical aspects discuss the rhetoric of victimization and the social construction of victimization and empirical aspects of the focus on the impact of victimization. This book is a valuable addition to the growing literature on Victimology and Victimization. This book offers versatile authors of multidisciplinary fields of law, victimology, psychology and criminology. It is suitable to use in courses across social sciences, criminology, victimology and law. ”I have read this book with a kind of breathless tension and with an intellectual joy. Its contributions triggered many theoretical questions. This book not only reflects the current intellectual climate in social science, but it has also posed certain challenges.” —Prof. Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff (from the Foreward).