why do people sometimes blame the victims rather than perpetrators?

Answer 1

Let's look at this from a different angle. A man goes out and plays in traffic and becomes a victim when he is hit by a truck. The truck is the perpetrator, but certainly this would not have happened if the man had not been playing in traffic.

Answer 2

When you try to explain WHY something happens, you either can say "this guy was bad" and stop, or you can start to fill in the story. As soon as you fill in any detail, it sounds (to someone who isn't really listening) like you are blaming the victim: Since the victim has some control of events leading up to the event, that is taken to mean that the victim could have stopped it - which is taken to mean that the victim shares blame.

"If he hadn't been in the room during the shoot out, he wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Well, that's great, but why shouldn't he have been in the room? Did he know there was the potential for a shootout to happen?

Both morally and in juris prudence, there is a HUGE difference between evil and stupid.

Lets take the case that causes the most ire: Woman dresses in "hot" clothing and gets raped. Lets even connect the dots (which in this case is very difficult since rape is a power crime, not simply a desire to have sex). Lets say for purposes of argument that we *KNOW* that if she had not been dressed enticingly, she wouldn't have been raped.

Lets connect even more dots: Lets say that the woman knows that if she dresses enticingly, her chances of being raped are increased.

Well, if she does it, all other things being equal (and they aren't), she is being stupid. STUPID IS NOT A CRIME.

Thing is, we blame people for being stupid all the time. But when you are comparing stupid with malicious, the person who is malicious is the one who goes to jail.

Yeah, if you're alone in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time maybe you are being stupid. The thug that gets you, however, is acting criminally, not stupidly.

I think blaming the victim is also a factor of not having the criminal around to blame. That is, there is a human tendancy to try to resolve issues so that you can move on, and part of the resolution is placing blame.

However, if the bad guy hasn't been caught yet, then you can't move on unless you start ignoring the maliciousness and start concentrating on the stupidity. Society's desire to restore order has only a limited connection to its desire to see that justice is done.

Answer 3

There are times when a person makes themselves a victim so they are in the wrong but....

what about the victim or the victim's family who did nothing wrong and yet others blame them?

It's because we have a society of people who do not want to take responsibility for their own actions, thanks to many parents who bailed their child out of every fight or problem they had at school, with the neighbors or the police. Rather than make them stand up and be a man/woman and accept responsibility, mom and/or dad would bombarb the school with their mean, hateful, self-righteous attitude and filthy mouths telling the school their innocent child would never do anything wrong ~ even when there were 10 witnesses to the fact.

Sick, immature society.

MikeP ~ right on !!!

Answer 4

Because it is some times easier to say the victim had it coming , Instead of facing the reality that the perpetrators were at fault.
There are a few occasions that i would say the victim was to blame --as in revenge killings--an eye for an eye!
Governments always will and find some blame on the victims to justify their involvement if it is political issue.(wars)

Answer 5

Because we have become a victim-oriented society. Rather than being encouraged to take responsibility for our own actions we are now encouraged to blame someone else for our mistakes and poor judgment. The result of this is a system that ignores the true victims of crime and attempts to apply a sense of sympathy toward the perpetrators. It's the downside to a judicial system that puts too much emphasis on the psychological reasons for crime (mainly as a legal strategy), rather than the crime itself.

Answer 6

Hugely vauge. However...take this as an example...
A seriously or moderatly endowed woman wears a plunging neckline that reaveals some very desirable cleavage. Ok....now it does not take a genius to know that this (those are) is a man magnate. It is just human nature for a man to check it out and imagine what the rest may look like. This woman may feel cheap and dirty for all the men dreweling over her busty top or she may just enjoy the heck out of it. Fact is a man little cares what is in her brain. Now is she a victim or a peretrator? Is the man a victim because he has taken the natural bait and locked his eyes and imagination on her?

Answer 7

Too broad a question -- to many possible answers.

Sometimes the "victim" is to blame -- if one person starts a fight, and only the person who fought back goes in trial -- that's a perfect example of when blaming the victim is valid.

There's also trial tactics, and credibility issues, and alternate assumptions or explanations -- and tons of other examples in which someone may seem to be blaming the victim -- far to many to summarize in one short answer.

Answer 8

LOL...I love "SweetPea's" answer...
And I think she is right...

it is easier to connect the dots on the victims liability-factor...
We know that bad things happen...and that to a certain extent it is our responsability to take care of ourselves. So when we see "victims" that obviously did not take care to be responsible...it is easy to blame them.

The perpetrators, on the other hand, are more than likely going to get what's coming to them. Go to jail, pay a fine, (if they are caught, at least)... so we don't take time to consider their action. It is obviously wrong...and they are going to get what is coming to them.

Also, many times the perpetrator looks and acts like a regular person. And it is hard for the average person to think about them as a monster (in rape and murder cases especially).... so it may be easier to blame the irresponsible victim.

Answer 9

Sometimes, the victims call it upon themselves. Like, if you walk down a dark ally in a big city with $100 bills sticking out of your pockets...well, there aren't going to be too many people that will tell you "Hey, you better tuck those back in your pockets"!

Answer 10

why swim in the ocean when u know that there are sharks in the area might increase your chances of a shark attack. Why walk down a dark back alley in a neiborhood that is known for muggins and murder. Avoid the unknown and u won't be a victim.
sorry
Michelle