Sources of Data for Victimology

Data as I will use the term are records of a systematic sort about phenomena.I am concerned only with data from which statistics can be generated: hence records must exist for a reasonably large number of phenomena of the same class.Data depend upon selective abstracting, symbolizing, and recording of activities by those who make the records.Few records used in victimology are records from direct observation by the recorder of all the phenomena of interest.This is because victimology is concerned generally with phenomena, or sequelae of phenomena, that are imperfectly predictable with regard to place or time of occurrence.Recorders usually cannot readily position themselves to observe many instances of the same class.'The phenomena of interest to victimology are events (and their sequelae) in which persons, as individuals, or as groups (victims) have been affected by acts of other persons or groups (offenders) which some judger defines as wrongful (offenses), in terms of institutionalized criteria (law or less formal social norms).To qualify, the victim must be the subject of attempted or threatened harm, or be placed in special danger of harm as a result of an offense.While it is possible to define purely objective indicators for the normative components of this definition, such as victim, offense, and harm, these concepts remain nonetheless normative.Hence, there are extra-