Photo by Mark Daynes on Unsplash
Agnetha Gillbanks
University of New Haven
Historically, the focus of the criminal justice system had primarily been on punishing the offender, while the victim’s needs and experiences were largely ignored. However, as criminology and victimology evolved, scholars realized that both victims and offenders required attention. While these disciplines were initially developed with distinct focuses on offenders and victims, it became evident that individuals could occupy both roles (Erdmann, 2022). Early victimologists such as Schafer (1968) and Wolfgang (1958) identified the need to examine the relationship between the victim and offender. As more research emerged, it was clear that the two were significantly interconnected (Averdijk et al., 2016; Dutton & Hart, 1992; Lo et al., 2020; Kushner, 2022).