Victims And Opinions II. [antikvár]

Introduction In the first half of the twentieth century criminologists tried to provide explanations primarily for the acts of offenders. The results of these efforts are nearly a dozen theories and surveys carried out on huge samples. However, in the past two decades the actual and the potential victims have come to the foreground. The change of direction was neither easy nor free of contradictions. The perpetrator of the crime was "at hand" in each survey. This was not true of the victims, who are often not known to the law enforcement authorities. In some cases the general public does not know of them either. This "deficiency" was gaining in importance as the approach focusing on the prevention of crimes first of all, rather than on the punishment of the offenders, was spreading. Victimological surveys soon led to the observation that crime could be reduced not only by changing the offenders (e.g. by resocialising them or through the cathartic effect of punishment) but also by preparing people in the correct ways of defence, especially those who are most often exposed to attack. In order to do this we need more information not only about those who were declared victims in the legal procedure, but about those who are endangered and about those victims the authorities do not know of. The so-called victim surveys tried to satisfy this demand, which is made now not only by experts of the criminal sciences but by politicians, as well. Research in this field became intensive at the beginning of the 90s and became standard practice in many countries in the second half of the decade. This process was accelerated as the UN indicated in the so-called Vienna declaration' that in order to form an authentic crime prevention concept it is not enough to rely on police data only but the actual number and the characteristics of the victims have to be known as well. The first survey in Hungary that was suitable for international comparison was carried out in the 1980s, by László Körinek. In the second half of the 1990s - mainly on the request of the Ministry of the Interior - many of the researchers of the National Institute of Criminology took part in such research projects or directed them. Some of these were carried out with international cooperation. The first victim survey on a huge sample was made possible by a grant. Its results will be published in the following. Volume One of the report summarizes the results of comprehensive, methodological and general 1 Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century. A/CONF.187/4/Rev.3. April 2000 7