Meet the world: blaming the victim

Blaming the victim was today’s topic of ‘Meet the world’ as a response to the recent rape scandal in Delhi, India. Marc Groenhuijsen, professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Victimology, was the guest speaker.

A few key concepts in the area of victimology were explained in light of the discussion around the rape in India. Groenhuijsen elaborated on the psychological defense mechanism, which explains why people look for reasons why the victim was confronted with the crime instead of empathizing with the victim. Because, if we can find reasons to blame the victim, we will be rest assured that the crime will not happen to us. This idea connects to the just world theory that entails the thought that if we behave normally, we will not be victimized.

Groenhuijsen also revealed the shocking fact that data analysis showed that only 0.5% of all rapes in the civilized world lead to a conviction. “This is a disgrace, horrible. It makes me think that we still live in a highly uncivilized world”, he expressed.

The reason that rape in India is such a big problem lies in Indian culture. The remains of the cast system are still visible and marital rape is not criminalized. Victims of rape are ridiculed and blamed by the media and police officers. As a consequence, secondary victimization takes place. This means that the victim is further victimized after the original crime.

The solution, however, is not easy. There has to be a bottom-up movement since the problem lies within the cultural embedding of the population. You cannot legislate culture so the law cannot provide a solution here. Groenhuijsen suggests two directions which could solve the problem: all female staff at police offices and creating a change in the attitude of the population, for example by promoting respect for women. Also, victim empowerment and awareness raising would be a good step forward.