Victim Support

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1. Introduction

Victimisation has a variety of repercussions on victims, such as on their mental and physical health, opportunities for job or further education, money, and overall well-being. However, not everyone is impacted by crime in the same manner (Jonathan et al., 2021). Numerous factors affect how much of an impact there is on the victim, and some data suggests that the crime and event severity are not the only elements that account for this difference (Long, 2021). Other considerations are the victim's traits, financial situation, and the availability of assistance (Stripe, 2020). Victims may require different things in order to cope and heal from the crime. The quantity and kind of necessary demands might vary depending on the incident's and the victim's unique qualities, even though many victims have many of the same needs. 

This research mainly focusses on discussing the theoretical aspects of victim support and the different dimensions where these elements exist. Moreover, the study also aims to discuss the impact of victim support initiatives taken in the educational intuitions. 

2. Key Distinctions between Crime and Deviance 

Crimes are offenses that are done in the public domain; the state authorities penalize these. From a common person to a high-profile individual, incidents of intentional or unintentional crimes are widespread, and they differ in type. With respect to the Merriam-Webster dictionary's definition, 'deviant' is 'the one who is deviating or straying, especially from common rules or regulations'. According to the definition provided by the sociology, deviance is any conduct that is out of line and truly not considered as the norm (van de Ven, 2020). Take a group of people in the public place who are wildly playing loud music and drinking. 

Crime is deviance but not everything deviant is crime. The transgressions can be referred to as violations to the promoted socialising and moral norms. Therefore, for this purpose, there will not be everyone who undertake to what is went beyond the limit behaviour (Lantz and Wenger, 2022). The fact that the social and moral values of individual people and various cultural groups are diverse is true. Whenever some act or behaviour is considered deviant, it depends on the context in which this act or behaviour has been committed. This concept deals with the notion that there are many behaviours, which may be deemed abnormal in some societies or cultures or splintered from a widespread standard of morality or historical context.

3. Different Dimensions of Crime and its Impact on Victim Support

3.1 Social Dimensions

Social elements are a vital part of the crime process as well as consequences experienced by the victims. Different social theories are useful for the researchers to construct the models of such a phenomenon and offer the best solutions.

3.1.1 Social Inequality

According to Merton Strain Theory, people feel the strain of social and economic inequality may change from one of the functions to another which may increase the potential for crime (Bailey et al., 2020). For example, youngsters, who come from places where there may high rate of violence and crime, may be easy to steal from or assaulted as compared to those who live in secure and wealth areas.

In terms of this theory, crime victim advocates and support agencies can emphasise helping clients to social status levelling for reduction of the chance of becoming crime victims being themselves (Bailey et al., 2020). For instance, the services help those victims to get better employment and may go further and help them to enrol universities. Eventually, these people can do this to them, and society will accept them full- time workers, not the criminals.

This may be illustrated by the Ministry of Justice's employment enhancing "Empowerment" program launched with the purpose of helping victims of crime secure appropriate job openings (Quintas and Sousa, 2021). Parts of this project avails vital skills for employment and even provide them with opportunities to further their education, fostering economic independence and reducing social assistance dependency.

3.1.2 Social Learning

According to the Social Learning Theory, which was proposed by Albert Bandura, criminal behaviour is merely imitated through the interaction process (Akdemir and Lawless, 2020). Those who have exposure to communities that seem to be rife with violence and crime fighting are more likely to get used to such scenarios and even perceive violence as acceptable. Hence, victim support services that run under this concept can provide programs that help in the procedure that boost the feelings of safety and sense of community ownership (Holliday et al., 2020). Another example of these services can be mentoring programs for youth, belonging events which offer people a chance to have fun by building positive relationships, or volunteering which allows victims to participate in community-oriented projects such as improving the environment (OBIDIMMA et al., 2023). To illustrate this, the "Friends Club" program devised by the "Charitable organization "Noor"" in the United Arab Emirates is stated. 

This program offers a resort for children under domestic violence to enjoy proportional space for plays and friendships with their peers through the platform (van de Ven, 2020). The program using interesting and informative activities performs their task by making the children create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and acquire healthy coping mechanisms that can minimise the future involvement in offensive behaviour.

3.1.3 Marginalization and Stigmatization 

Applying the Labelling Theory, a study by Howard Becker pinpoints at the difficulty of the crimes made not by the victims' own will and the labelling them with shame afterward (Bailey et al., 2020). Also, sexual harassment can ultimately tarnish the sufferers’ reputation because of their clothes or behaviour, hence making them fearful of enquiry. This leads to reluctance to seek for help.

Thus, according to this theory, victim support services are centred on psychological support of the victims and approval of their experiences (Quintas and Sousa, 2021). It is through the provision of these services that victims are able to fight against the prejudice imposed on them and protect their rights as they seek to uphold social and legal justice.

Lebanese organization "Fayruz" comes under this not very uncommon example as they provide legal and psychological support to those who are victims to domestic violence (Holliday et al., 2020). The community-based agency seeks to modify the public opinion on victims of domestic violence by saying that the victim has never deserved what happened to them. Furthermore, the association offers legal consultations through which victims can take further legal steps to pursue action against their abusers and exercise their legal rights.

3.2 Economic Dimensions

The economic tragedy for story victims is enormous and far-ranging. The failure to wrap one’s head around economic structure repercussions of the criminals can mount up to the poor design of victim aid systems.

3.2.1 Financial Strain

Crime boxes like robbery, theft or property damage can cause emotional or mental appreciable losses to those victimized financially. This crisis like losses might either create a fiscal crisis for low-income families or occur immediately in the lives of the same category of people (Akdemir and Lawless, 2020). However, the long-term effect can similarly be crushing, with victims being pushed deep into debt or just managing to survive difficult basic necessities. The cost associated with the lost wages accruing from the inability to continue working due to the injury or longer time spent recovering after the crime can also be high.

Through the offering of victim support services, it is possible to reduce the amount of financial burden, particularly on people who are not involved in this traumatic event (Powell et al., 2020). On the other hand, monetary help, budgeting courses or law aid occur to be quite helpful in the short-term, as well as for coping up with the long-term financial demands. Also, support might be provided if the victim wants to process insurance loss claims in order to accurately estimate the required compensations.

3.2.2 Job Loss after Crime

Crime diminishes a prospect to build a career, or financial assets more often than it does. Physical injuries caused by crime can disable the victim from returning to employment as soon as they can. In fact, they can suffer long-term disability which significantly lowers their skill level in the workplace (OBIDIMMA et al., 2023). The emotional trauma after crime can be seen as anxiety, depression, and thinking gap, which impair person's productivity. Safety worries, especially if the crime took place in their workplace – the place where they must feel like they cannot go there – will be their concerns. 

Even false accusations can lead to job which may result in loss of the job or at least movement of them for the period of time when the trials are being held (Visconti, 2020). Besides the negative exposure and the emotional effects around such cases, the system takes longer to heal, and the affected individual might even decide to quit the same working environment. Here, aggregates labeling theory which underscores the possibility of the social labels that could adversely affect the personal growth and life opportunities of the person. Carrying the title of "a victim" - even in rare occasions of being falsely accused can lead to stigma and discrimination whilst in the workplace.

3.3 Cultural Dimensions

3.3.1 Cultural Relativism and Victim Blaming

Cultural dimensions play a crucial role in shaping perceptions of crime and victim support within societies. Cultural relativism, as a theoretical perspective, underscores the significance of understanding behaviors within their cultural context rather than imposing external standards of judgment (Lantz and Wenger, 2022). This viewpoint denotes crimes or deviations in one community, and which could be normal or rather accepted in another area. Moreover, the cultural perspective should not be overlooked in the study of victim support. Through observed contrasts of how cultures address crime and victimization, it cannot be denied that culture influences victim support.

In an environment where blaming victims is a mainstream attitude, the societal norms and beliefs aggravate the trials the victims encounter as they reach out for support. Victims may be stigmatized, and this may lead to shyness to the point of being afraid to report a crime or looking for help (van de Ven, 2020). This fact shows the intricate role of the cultural ideas about victimization and the services availability when it comes to access for victims. A theoretical viewpoint of this issue begins with the exploration of the impact of culture’s dimensions on victim help and an analysis of different approaches to crime and deviance. For instance, label theory tells us that society reacts to an individual's behaviour which becomes the foundation of one's self-concept and future behaviour (Stripe, 2020). Diversity of cultures may a radical difference in labelling theory: as a result, victim is treated with different eyes in the community. Aside from routine situation theory, which underscores the importance of opportunity in criminal behaviour, the researcher argue that situation leads to violent behaviours. 

3.3.2 Cultural Diversity and Access to Support Services

Cultural dimension becomes especially important in helping to build and mould victims of crime and the perception of the society of individuals and events within a given society. Based on the concept of cultural relativism as the theoretical direction to be followed, it is obvious that the understanding of actions is in their cultural background rather than the application of external standards of judgment (Long, 2021). Such view makes a distinction which is that something that in one society considered a criminal activity or does not seem normal could be a default type of behaviour or even accepted in somewhere else. 

Apart from societies where victim blaming is dominant, cultural preferences and the existing beliefs are some of the issues that can add to the sufferings of the victims when they are seeking help (Jonathan et al., 2021). Offenders may suffer marginalization or exclusion, which incites complaints as well as reluctance for seeking help and reporting crimes. This is evidence when the affected persons who are blamed for their dressing or behaviour (Flores et al., 2022). Their healing process may be slowed down and they may feel somehow discouraged to seek help. The issue of choice of victimhood and its relationship to obtained support services is demonstrated herein. It is because of the intricate interaction of cultural perceptions and availability of services.

Similarly, labelling theory postulates that society can have a broad impact on the intellectual yet emotional state of an individual upon perception of his or her actions (Leukfeldt et al., 2020). In a culturally diverse setting, labelling theory might not follow the same structure, thus the way victims are perceived and treated by their communities might be significantly different. Just like the routine activities theory which suggests that the considerably higher opportunities of criminal behaviour exist, there are various routines that ordinary people perform on a daily basis. 

4. Impact of Victim Support on Institutions

The consequences of victims’ services on criminal justice system institutions have multi-faceted and complicated nature, which can be relatively well understood under different theory approaches (Diaconu, 2022). Another view of this is social disorganization theory, which says that crime and social distress rise in places where the social ties are weak, and establishments are not working effectively. It should be noted here that exceptional victim aid facilities can help in the realization of social order through development of mechanisms to cater for the needs of those threatened or exposed to crimes and deviations.

4.1 Effectiveness of Law Enforcement Agencies

The impact of the victim assistance measures is not underrated as the improve efficiency of the law enforcement by increasing trust between victims and the public authorities. Taking care of all-encompassing support services by arranging for assault reporting and legal procedure navigating in addition to, obviously, can raise the level of the involvement by the victims in law enforcement activities. According to strain theory from a theoretical viewpoint, an individual may engage in criminal behaviour as a result of a delusion when s/he perceives that his/her society's goal and his/her means of attaining such goals are different from each other (Anderez et al., 2021). 

4.2 Functioning of Judicial Institutions

In addition to this, victim support programs influence judicial institutions by functioning as an advocator, that is, a member who articulates the rights and interests of the victim during these legal proceedings. Therefore, this activist position matches the philosophy of restorative justice as it emphasizes how you can deal with criminal damage cause through the processes of dialogue, reconciliation, and reparation. The subject in labelling theory, is, that, it acquainted society’s perception of a person’s behaviour, to the reactions taking place (De Kimpe et al., 2020). 

4.3 Impact on Community-Based Organizations

An array of community organizations that participate in victim support services are not only significant but also critical players in the larger criminal justice system. These societies mostly work at the local level, providing individual service made using the best practices to handle the specific requirements (Gillespie et al., 2021). A victim support organisation which is from socio historical vices emerges as the society moves towards intricately kindness regarding crime and victimization, which is completely new. 

Conclusion

Crime and Deviant theories have a deep understanding as to the cause of the crime which greatly raises the service delivery to victims. A holistic response of theoretical nature that is adaptable to victim’s diverse perceptions and needs has been recognized as the most effective. Thus, now we must move forward through cooperation between victim support services, researchers, and policymakers. The future collaboration is key. Furthermore, practitioners can analyze victims' demographic characteristics, crime types, and service usage to make sure services are well focused on particular victim groups. The best way for victim support institutions to do so is to continue to amend and perfect their practices.

References

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