Publisher's description: What are the effects that violent crime has on our everyday lives, both in terms of the individual victims and their larger community? This unique text draws from both the fields of criminology and psychology to provide a comprehensive examination of the two major areas that are most significantly effected by violent crime - the crime victims themselves and the larger sphere of their families, friends, neighborhoods, and communities. Beginning with a discussion of the how we measure and study violent victimization, the authors R. Barry Ruback and Martie P. Thompson, look at the immediate and long-term impact violent acts has upon the direct victims. Social and Psychological Consequences of Violent Victimization examines "secondary victims"--Family members, neighbors, friends, and the professional involved with investigating and prosecuting the crime and helping the victim, and also impacts of violent crime on neighborhoods and communities. The authors conclude with recommendations of effective interventions that can be made at the levels of the individual, the community, and the criminal justice and mental health systems. This book's one-of-a kind focus on both the psychological and social impact of crime makes it an invaluable supplementary text for criminal justice and criminology courses dealing with victimization, violent crimes, and the criminal justice process. The book will also interest professionals in victim services, crime prevention, criminal justice, and social work.

Revitalizing Victimization Theory: Revisions, Applications, and New Directions revises some of the major perspectives in victimization theory, applies theoretical perspectives to the victimization of vulnerable populations, and carves out new theoretical territory that is clearly needed but has yet to be developed. With the exception of a handful of isolated works in the mid-twentieth century, theory and research on victimization did not come into its own until the late 1970s with the articulation of lifestyle and routine activity theories. Research conducted within this tradition continues to be an important part of the overall criminological enterprise, and a large body of empirical knowledge has been generated. Nevertheless, theoretical advances in the study of victimization have largely stalled within the field of criminology. Indeed, little in the way of new theoretical headway has been made in well over a decade. This is an ideal time to revitalize victimization theory, and this volume does just that. It is an ambitious project that will hopefully reignite the kinds of theoretical discussions that once held the attention of the field. The work included here will shape the future of victimization theory and research in years to come. This volume should be of interest to a wide range of criminologists and have the potential to be used in graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses.

Sexual Victimization: Then and Now provides scholars easy access to information that specifically examines the continuum of sex crimes and the perception of victims by our criminal justice system and society as a whole. This text features contributions from well-known researchers in the field and serves as an important resource to provide scholars with up-to-date research on sexual victimization that will educate students on this complex and evolving challenge for the criminal justice system. The authors approach the concept by examining how the criminal justice system handles sexual victimization, the association between individuals in a relationship and sexual assault, and unusual and special issues associated with contemporary sexual victimization. By discussing these issues, the theoretical explanations for these crimes and the effectiveness of the policy that has been applied will effectively link the criminological areas of theory, research, and policy.

Bringing together cutting-edge theory and research that bridges academic disciplines from criminology and criminal justice, to developmental psychology, sociology, and political science, Thinking About Victimization offers an authoritative and refreshingly accessible overview of scholarship on the nature, sources, and consequences of victimization. This book integrates empirical research and victimization theory and is written in a lively style, with sharp storytelling and an appreciation of international research on victimization. Rooted in a healthy respect for criminological history and the important foundational works in victimization studies, it provides a detailed account of how different data sources can influence our understanding of victimization; of how the sources of victimization—individual, situational, and contextual—are complicated and varied; and of how the consequences of victimization—personal, social, and political—are just as complex. Thinking About Victimization also engages with contemporary issues such as sexual victimization and intimate partner violence, victimization in schools, cybervictimization, and prison victimization, as well as terrorism and state-sponsored violence. The second edition reflects new research developments in victimology, including updated discussions on the COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality, increases in crime, and school shootings. Thinking About Victimization is essential reading for advanced courses in victimization offered in criminology, criminal justice, sociology, health, and social work departments. With its unapologetic reliance on theory and research combined with its easy readability, undergraduate and graduate students alike will find much to learn in these pages.

Bullying and harassment threaten academic achievement and mental health in our schools. Look beyond your work with individual students to address these problems in their larger context! This book presents enlightening empirical studies and reviews of the literature on peer harassment, bullying, and victimization. Designed to expand our knowledge and understanding of these topics, Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention documents the widespread nature of the phenomena both inside and outside the United States, identifies risk and protective factors, and provides practitioners with specific, evidence-based guidelines for effective preventive action. From the editors: The problem of bullying, peer harassment, and victimization is a serious one in our schools. It greatly affects the climate for learning and productivity and the emotional health of students and staff. This book presents empirical data and theoretical and legal case reviews to show how pervasive and serious these problems are and how they threaten both academic achievement and mental health within many of our schools. Taking a longitudinal and developmental perspective, the authors begin to outline the next generation of research in this field that will shape knowledge and practice for the next few decades. For practitioners, the book is a call to action, particularly at the school-wide level, focusing on reducing the substantial social/emotional harm done to perpetrators, bystanders, and especially, victims. Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools provides vital information on: what mental health professionals can do to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in schools the relationship between middle-school adjustment and bullying aggressive behavior and friendship patterns in immigrant children school-based intervention strategies the relationship between the cultures of childhood and sexual harassmentfrom developmental, domestic violence, and legal perspectives risk factors and protective factors affecting victimization and more! It has been estimated that bullying affects more than half of the students in American schools. This book can add significantly to your ability to combat and prevent this pervasive problem. Use it to improve the quality of education received by students in your community!