2nd edition

Andrew Karmen, a leading authority in the field of victimology, offers readers one of the most comprehensive, objective, and well-researched accounts available on society's crime victims. Recognizing the emotionally and politically charged nature of the subject, the text explores opposing sides of controversial issues. To illustrate various concepts and themes, many real-life cases and various opinions of preeminent researchers in the field are presented. Responding to the growing interest in victimology, this expanded Third Edition offers broader coverage, including the latest statistics and references from timely research studies. Readers will find more information and analysis about murder, robbery, and auto theft; child abuse; repressed memories of childhood molestations; battered women; sexual assault; and armed self-defense. An exceptional resource for anyone seeking to better understand victims and their plight, this volume covers all major subject areas, including the origins of the discipline; government statistics revealing trends and patterns; the rediscovery of crime victims by the news media, businesses, and social movements; victim blaming versus victim defending; the treatment of victims by the criminal justice system; methods of recovering losses; the movement for victim's rights and the promise of offender restitution and mediation as a basis for reconciliation; and the impulse toward vigilantism.