When breaking down the word victimology, there is "victim" and "-ology." Victim means "All those who experience injury, loss, or hardship due to any cause," -Ology is just a suffix meaning the study of. So the meaning of victimology is "The study of people who experience injury, or hardship due to any cause,". In our case we are looking at a specific kind of cause. This hardship is caused by crime. A victimologist's definition of victimology is, "The scientific study of crime victims, focuses on the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer at the hands of criminals,".
Many people think victimology and criminology are the same, but they are not. Actually victimology is a category within criminology, along with fields like delinquency, and drug abuse. Some differing points are criminologists realize that most people will break some laws, for example juvenile delinquents. On the other hand victimologists realize anyone can become a victim, but ask why do some groups get attacked more than others. Both study social, economical, and political factors, but criminologists study these to answer why criminals commit crime and victimologists study to answer why people (victims) put themselves into danger. These two fields also study the way the criminal justice system is supposed to work, victimologists look at the way victims are really treated by the police, and judges. Where as criminologists look at how convicts are handled. Criminologists believe in only studying illegal activity not all-social deviance, but victimologists disagree.
Vicimologists have to strive for objectivity because they can't be so quick to people. They must look at a criminal case very closely and ask who really is the victim? A good example of this is the Lorena Bobbit case. An angry wife uses a knife and cuts off her husband's penis. She claims she did this because she couldn't take the abuse from him anymore.
