Book Review: Crime victimization: A comprehensive overview

• Author: Ava T. Carcirieri
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016815593342
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Elizabeth, Q., & Sara, B. (2015).

Crime victimization: A comprehensive overview. Durham, NC: Prentice Hall. 324 pp. $60.00,

ISBN 978-1-61163-307-8.

Reviewed by: Ava T. Carcirieri, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016815593342

In their work, Quinn and Brightman successfully create an extensive overview of the burgeoning but

vastly understudied area of victimology and victimization. A useful tool for students, academics, and

those working in victim services, this book provides a general overview of the history and study of

victimology, types of criminal victimization, an overview of the victim rights’ movement, and a

guide to what victims need to recover from various types of crimes. The authors’ use of extra learn-

ing materials at the end of each chapter as well as discussion of current events and topics often

ignored by criminological works make this book an extremely useful tool for both students and indi-

viduals who work with victims.

Quinn and Brightman wrote this as an introduction to an area of study that is only beginning to be

included in criminology and sociology courses. The study of victims and their roles within crime

have often been downplayed or ignored by researchers in favor of focusing on the criminal or the

acts themselves. The book is organized into several chapters, each designated to a particular facet

within victimology, such as its history and definition, types of vulnerable populations, types of vic-

tims across the crime spectrum, and a chapter about the development of victim rights and advocacy

programs. Each chapter is meant to provide the reader with a broad understanding of the particular

topic and how it relates to the broader area of victimology and how each topic relates to contempo-

rary events and careers.

Elizabeth Quinn received her PhD from Sam Houston State University and currently works for

the department of Criminal Justice at Fayetteville University. Sara Brightman earned her PhD in

sociology and currently works at Fayetteville University in the Department of Criminal Justice. Both

authors teach victimology courses at the graduate and undergraduate level, and it is apparent

throughout this introductory work that the authors are advocating for the proliferation of victimology

courses in other universities and criminal justice departments.

This is apparent in the organization of the work as well. They begin by extensively reviewing the

history of victimization and how victimization has been historically measured, and how certain types

of victimization have emerged as our definitions of crime have changed and shifted. A prominent

example used is domestic violence and spousal rape, which were not always considered crimes

because women were considered by society to be part of the home and under their husband’s ‘‘own-

ership.’’ The authors review the types of national and international crime and victimization surveys,

and recent victimization statistics and motives of several different crimes including homicide, sexual

assault, robbery, and assault. Hate crimes, cyber crimes, and ‘‘victimless’’ crimes are also discussed,

along with the various short- and long-term effects that crime can have on primary, secondary, and

tertiary victims. The book then covers victim’s legal rights, as most states in the United States have

amended their laws to include a victim’s bill of rights, and the authors also discuss in more detail

what victim’s roles are in the court process. The work ends by reviewing victim advocacy, working

with victims, and future directions in victimology such as restorative justice, which focuses less on

punishment of the perpetrator and more on restoring things to their original state. The authors show

that while this field is not given much attention, restorative justice seeks to put the control back into

the victim’s hands to give them more substantive rights.

A definitive strength of the work was the extra resources added throughout that both students and

instructors may use to supplement each chapter. In several chapters, the authors include short

532 Criminal Justice Review 40(4)