Helping Victims of Violent Crime

Experiencing a criminal victimization, be it violent or non-violent, is among one of the most stressful human experiences. Consequently, ensuring quality of life for victims of crime is a major challenge facing policy makers and mental health providers. Older perspectives of victimization perpetuate a victim-blaming approach to understanding the phenomenon of crime, the offender, and the victim. This book explores victim assistance through systems theory, the holistic notion of examining the client in his/her environment, and a key theoretical underpinning of social work practice. It features three stress and coping theories, to determine the state of balance:Perception of the event; Available situational support; and, Coping mechanisms. It offers a framework to understand a victim's response to a crime. It assists victims of family violence (child abuse, elder abuse, partner violence) as well as stranger violence (sexual assault, homicide, and terrorism) are analyzed.