Dr. Krishan Vij

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FORENSIC VICTIMOLOGY
Dr. Krishan Vij Prof. Head Department Of
Forensic Medicine Govt. Medical College
Hospital CHANDIGARH
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All the crimes committed are not reported, all
the reported crimes are not recorded and all the
recorded crimes are not processed
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Victim defined

• A victim is considered as an individual who
  has been harmed or scarred physically and/or
  psychologically by crime(s) against him or the
  property.

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Mendelsohn(1947)
Is known as the father of victimology who
first furthered that victimology is a science
parallel to the criminology or the reverse to
the criminology.

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Karmen (1992)
defined victimology as the scientific study of
victimization, including the relationships
between victims and offenders, the interactions
between victims and the criminal justice
system -that is, the police and courts, and
correctional officials - and the connections
between victims and other societal groups and
institutions, such as the media, businesses, and
social movements.
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Arena of victimization is wide-reaching.

• convictims
• secondary trauma at the level of investigating
  agencies, court procedures, media etc.

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Arena of victimization is wide-reaching.
contd

• hate/ bias at the hands of the
• direct or indirect service providers

• victims with disability

- HIV- positivity
- Genetic aristocracy
Vs Genetic underclass
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Common reactions of crime victims

• Anger it is not unusual to be angry
• at police, criminal justice, or society
• Depression low mood, low appetite,
• sleep problems, self-blame/guilt,
• worthlessness etc.
• Anxiety fear/distress/worry,
• psychosomatic symptoms like sweating,
• difficult breathing, chest pain and
• behavior changes like avoidance, rituals
• etc.

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Common reactions of crime victims. contd.

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• (PTSD) a form of anxiety disorder
  characterized by fear, helplessness, intrusive
  and recurrent memories, reliving the event,
  intense distress, avoidance/suppression of
  thoughts/ feelings, sleep problems, angry
  outbursts, poor concentration, and exaggerated
  startle response (APA 1994).

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Legal rights of the victims

• Notification
• Allocution
• Compensation
• Shield laws

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Compensation to the victims of crime

• Sec 357 CrPC - Order to pay compensation
• Sec 358 CrPC - Compensation to persons
  groundlessly arrested.
• Sec 359 CrPC - Order to pay costs in
  non-cognizable cases.
• Sec 140 -142 of Motor Vehicle Act

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Situations where accused may be susceptible to
victimization

• During recording of confessional statement by the
  investigating agency.
• During detention/ imprisonment.

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To prevent torture of persons under
interrogation.

• Sec 330 331 I P C
• Sec 162, 163, 172 173 CrPC
• Sec 24, 25 26 IEA

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Indian Penal Code

• Sec 330 331 make punishable with a term
  extending upto seven and ten years respectively,
  a person or an officer, whoever voluntarily
  causes hurt or grievous hurt for purpose of
  extorting a confession or information leading to
  the detection of an offence or misconduct.

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Code of Criminal Procedure

• Sec 162 provides
• (i) statement given to the police under sec 161
  shall not be
• signed by the person making
• the statement, and
• (ii) that the statement shall
• not be used for any purpose except for
  contradicting the witness if he is examined
• by the prosecution.

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Code of Criminal Procedure.contd.

• Sec 163 prohibits
• (i) inducement, threat or promise as mentioned in
  sec 24 of the Evidence Act, from a police officer
  or other person in authority in order to get a
  statement or confession, and
• (ii) preventing any person from making any
  statement which he/ she voluntarily wants to
  make.

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Code of Criminal Procedure contd.

• Sec 172 requires
• the police for maintaining a diary in a
  regular manner. This not only ensures the safety
  of the accused but also safeguards the officials
  of the investigating agency. Though the case
  diary cannot be treated as evidence, the Court
  can use it for arriving at the outcome.

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Code of Criminal Procedure contd.

• Sec 173 requires
• the investigating authority to complete the
  investigation soon and also to submit a report to
  the magistrate soon after the investigation is
  complete. Delay in investigation and filing a
  charge-sheet throws doubt on the prosecution
  case.

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Indian Evidence Act

• Sec. 24 Confession caused by inducement, threat
  or promise, when irrelevant in criminal
  proceedings.
• Sec. 25 Confession to police officer not to be
  proved against a person accused of any offence.
• Sec. 26 Confession by accused while in custody
  of police not to be proved against him.

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Requisite attitudes towards victims

• Striking schism amongst various authorities as to
  the conception and understanding of various
  aspects of victimology.
• Medicine and law are the two professions where
  this division between the victim and power elite
  requires constant monitoring.
• Need to eliminate personal equation and to be
  independent of the idiosyncrasies .

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Requisite attitudes towards victims...
contd.

• The recognition of PTSD in 1980 as a formal
  psychiatric disorder represents an important
  landmark in the social acknowledgement of the
  consequences of trauma.

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Requisite attitudes towards victims...
contd.

• Expert Witnesss attitude
• while many experts represent the best in their
  profession, a few may behave as
• hired guns
• employed to shoot holes in the other sides
  testimony.

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Victim-offender relationship a
dual interplay
The dilemma is considered at length by
Shakespeare in Macbeth...
What hands are here? Hahthey pluck out mine
eyes Will all great Neptunes Ocean wash this
blood Clean from my hand?No (Macbeth, Act II,
Scene I, p.929)
Sec. 360 CrPC Order to release on
probation of good conduct or after admonition.
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• Now is not the end. It is not even the
  beginning of the end. But it is , perhaps, the
  end of the beginning.

Sir Winston Churchill(1942) (after three years of
WW II)
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THANK YOU