Victimization

The concept behind the expression, "Hurt people, hurt people," is backed by research. While exact percentages are uncertain, individuals that are abused in any way – cruel or unequal treatment of others – are much more likely to be perpetrators. Victimization, as the adage says, is an indication of potential abuse and crimes (Lauritsen, n.d.). The relationship between victimization depends on whether the victimization is witnessed directly, observed or vicarious – that means that someone learns about the victimization of someone else. The paper applies the concepts of routine activities and lifestyle theories to evaluate my risk of being victimized and the prevention measures.

Risk and Prevention Factors

No single factor explains why I am perpetrating violence or why violence in some places is most prevalent. Violence is the result of a complex combination of several factors that a young person like me gets involved in.

Understanding the range of factors that threaten or protect me from violence allows one to develop comprehensive, multi-level evidentiary strategies for the prevention and elimination of violence and the overall well-being of the child. Here are some of the factors that led me to be a victim and the prevention measures.

My Lifestyle and Risk of Victimization Prevention

Factors of biological and personal history can increase the likelihood that violence will be perpetrated. These include physical and cognitive issues (e.g. fetal alcohol disorders, learning disorders), impulsive or aggressive trends, trauma history (including fostering and homelessness), exposure to abuse, drug or alcohol involvement (Youth.Gov, n.d.). Being brought up in a family of alcoholics, it made me become a perpetrator of violence which has put me at high risk of being a victim. These made me poor academically, my high-school aspiration became low and I had a negative social focus.

Other factors may be used to prevent me from becoming violent even if the other risk factors listed above are experienced. These include academic achievement, high-school aspirations, a positive social focus, and highly developed social skills. These if used to someone like me I believe would help me prevent victimization at all cost.

Factors of Victimization: Relations between Myself and Others

The close relationships in the life of a young person can either increase or reduce the risk of violence. The closest social circle of a person – peers, couples, and families – influences and contributes to their behavior. in my life evaluation, I realized that the activities I was involved in played a part in being part of victim perpetrators. The people that surrounded me at my early age were perpetrators of crime and in most cases, I was a victim of circumstances.

Family risk factors include authoritarian attitudes towards child-bearing, low parental involvement, poor family performance, and abuse or criminal history of involvement with the parent. Participation in gangs and social rejection by pairs and social risk factors include (Youth.Gov, n.d.). This played a key role in me behaving awkwardly. My family never cared and my parents never gave me the attention I needed to grow upright. The maid was the one who was taking care of me. The maid was a perpetrator of violence in that in most cases she would torture me and this also played a part in me being a perpetrator of violence.

Cooperating with the family or other caring adults, frequent and positive sharing activities with parents, and positive teachers in supporting the climate of schools are protective factors that can reduce the risk of violence. The reason is that with such care and concern one can easily grow in the right direction as there is the right guidance needed.

Schools, Communities, Companies

Other factors are often ignored, such as schools, jobs, neighborhoods, and settings in which social relations are developed. These settings' characteristics can enhance or reduce the risk of violence. Broad societal factors can also play a role because they can create either encouraging or inhibiting a climate of violence (Lauritsen, n.d.). For my case, this was a key ingredient. Society, in general, was not very friendly. It was full of chaos and destruction that led to me believing that that was the way to go and made me be at risk of instigating violence.

Risk factors may include built-in aspects (e.g. high levels of poor residents, design factors such as open and green spaces, lighting, etc.), social environments (e.g. decreased economic opportunities, low levels of community participation, neighborhoods with the social disorder), trauma at the Community level (e.g., historical trauma, chronic exposure to violence), and others.

Community and societal protection factors are less studied than individual and relationship protective factors. Coordinating resources and services between community agencies, access to mental health and drug misuse services, and community support and connectivity are considered to be buffering for the risk of violence. I believe if these are done adequately with good guidance I would, at last, prevent the risk of being an instigator of violence.

From this study, it is evident that there are a lot of factors that lead to one being at risk of victimization. Victims of victimization in the long run indeed become perpetrators of violence. As an example, I was a victim and later became an offender. Therefore, a good environment that prevents victimization plays a vital role in preventing victimization.

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