NCJ Number
168501
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1997) Pages: 35-45
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper advocates viewing the risk of criminal victimization through a gendered lens.
Abstract
Study of criminal victimization over the last 15 years has frequently drawn together an understanding of the nature and extent of criminal victimization with the question of risk of such an occurrence. However, the meaning of criminal victimization has been studied more closely than the meaning of risk in this context. The article pays particular attention to the way in which the gender blindness associated with criminology and victimology has led to an implicit acceptance of particular ways of thinking about the concept of risk and the way that concept has been related to criminal victimization. The paper suggests that viewing risk through a gendered lens might better inform the wider concerns of criminal victimization in general. In addition, the article calls for development of a theoretical framework for criminology which captures a structurally and reflexively informed conceptualization of risk, which might erase the victim-blaming connotations currently embedded in the context of multiple victimization. References