Ideal victim (concept)

Norwegian sociologist Nils Christie first proposed the concept of the ideal victim in his 1986 article "Crime Control as Drama." Christie's thesis is that some crime victims possess attributes and characteristics that make them "better" victims than others, with regard to public opinion surrounding the case in question. In formulating his ideal victim concept, Christie makes a conscious and specific choice to equate criminal justice with scripted drama. His theory posits that the ideal victim is the victim that generates the greatest amount of empathy in the court of public opinion, much the same way a sympathetic character facing injustice or hardship arouses a strong emotional response from an audience watching a movie.

Christie goes on to draw parallels between crime and various common elements of dramatic and literary narratives. He argues that there are five aspects of dramatic literature that inform the ideal victim construct: universality, basic values, depth, ambiguity, and aesthetics. Christie's ideal victim concept has proven to be highly influential, particularly with respect to media studies, social policy, and foreign policy.

Background

Christie was born in Oslo, Norway, on February 24, 1928. Following World War II (1939–1945), Christie worked as a journalist before becoming an academic. He earned his Ph.D. in 1959 and joined the faculty of the University of Oslo in 1966, becoming the institution's first criminology professor. Christie is credited with raising the profile of Norwegian criminology to the level of international renown. During his lifetime, Christie authored fifteen books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. By the end of his life, Christie was universally recognized as one of the world's leading criminologists. He died of natural causes on May 27, 2015.

In forming his ideal victim theory, Christie referred to five elements of drama and narrative literature that he believed offered direct parallels to the study of criminal victimhood: universality, or themes with cross-cultural relevance that transcend time and place; shared basic values, which enable outside observers to sympathize or identify with the nature of the problem at hand; depth, which enables others to draw direct comparisons between the events and their own social and cultural background; ambiguity, or moral doubt about how to act or respond; and aesthetic qualities that help create mood, tone, and theme.

Christie's theory also identified six specific attributes that combine to create the concept of an ideal crime victim. First, the victim must be weaker than the perpetrator of the crime, with key examples including women, the sick, the elderly, and children. Second, ideal victims are people who were either acting in a virtuous capacity when the crime was committed or who were simply going about their daily activities at the time. This creates a strong moral divide between the criminal and the crime victim. Third, ideal victims are in no way to blame for the crime that was committed against them. Fourth, the criminal is not part of the victim's circle of friends, family, or acquaintances. Fifth, the criminal is an intimidating figure who possesses a great deal more physical and/or psychological power than the victim does. Finally, the victim's social status is such that it does not pose any kind of threat to prevailing social, political, or economic forces. This ensures that the victim's status is protected from all possible forms of opposition to his or her state of victimhood.

Impact

Christie's theory can be seen as a synthesis of these five elements of drama and the six characteristics of the ideal victim. When a person with most or all of the ideal victim's characteristics is the target of a crime that encapsulates most or all of the dramatic elements, the situation is capable of arousing powerful or extreme emotional reactions. When the two aspects of the theory merge, a clear picture of an outrageous crime appears, one that is committed against a weak victim who was acting virtuously or going about his or her normal business, perpetrated by an intimidating stranger in such a way that universal elements of the human experience are evoked. For example, the victim might have been a young child returning from school or a vulnerable adult caring for a sick relative. The effect is heightened if the crime took place in an evocative setting or if its circumstances create a moral dilemma. For instance, if the incident occurred in a jurisdiction without the death penalty and the crime was particularly shocking or horrible, the public may debate whether the death penalty should be reinstated to punish the offender adequately.

Proponents of the ideal victim theory have applied the idea to a range of subjects, including media studies, law and public policy, international relations, and military conflicts. Specific to the media, ideal victims are more likely to be considered newsworthy. As such, crimes against them tend to generate a disproportionate amount of media coverage, compared to crimes committed against victims deemed to be stronger, more powerful, or less deserving of sympathy. The ideal victim has also become a trope in crime-oriented entertainment.

In law and public policy, the notion of the ideal victim has been influential in that such victims are capable of generating reactions so strong that citizens demand change. These changes usually serve two functions: to protect those at risk of becoming victims of similar crimes and to more harshly punish the perpetrators of such crimes. This has tie-ins with the media angle, as the intense amount of attention paid to ideal crime victims tends to elevate these victims to prominent positions in the public consciousness, which can fuel calls for action and demands for change.

Applied to international relations and military conflicts, the notion of the ideal victim can be used to justify sanctions or other interventions against aggressors. For example, political leaders who systematically oppress people or groups that fit the ideal victim definition are more likely to provoke a response from the international community.

Bibliography

Beck, Nishadi, and Sara Virtanen Janbakhsh. "Popular Descriptions of the Rape Victim in the Press." University of Stockholm, 2010, www.criminology.su.se/polopoly‗fs/1.65946.1323954452!/2010c‗Nishadi‗Beck‗och‗Sara‗Virtanen‗Janbakhsh.pdf. Accessed 21 Nov. 2016.

Christie, Nils. "Crime Control as Drama." Journal of Law and Society, vol. 13, no. 1, Spring 1986, pp. 1–8.

Cowburn, Malcolm, Marian Duggan, Anne Robinson, and Paul Senior, editors. Values in Criminology and Community Justice. Policy Press, 2015.

Dignan, James. Understanding Victims and Restorative Justice. McGraw-Hill Education UK, 2004, pp. 13–40.

Jacobsen, Michael Hviid, and Sandra Walklate. Liquid Criminology: Doing Imaginative Criminological Research. Routledge, 2016.

Jaishankar, K., and Natti Ronel, editors. Global Criminology: Crime and Victimization in a Globalized Era. CRC Press, 2013.

Smolej, Mirka. "Constructing Ideal Victims? Violence Narratives in Finnish Crime-Appeal Programs." Crime Media Culture, vol. 6, no. 1, April 2010, pp. 69–85.

Walklate, Sandra. Criminology: The Basics. Routledge, 2005.