La victimisation secondaire survient lorsque les victimes d’actes criminels subissent une première blessure par le crime et une seconde par les acteurs du système de justice pénale. Cependant, les recherches empiriques actuelles ne sont pas concluantes quant à l’impact du système de justice pénale sur les victimes. À cet effet, l’absence d’instrument standardisé pour mesurer la victimisation secondaire donne lieu à une opérationnalisation différente de ce construit d’une étude à l’autre, ce qui rend difficile la comparaison des études sur le sujet entre elles. Dans cette recherche, une tentative de standardisation de ce construit a été entreprise, afin de fournir une meilleure compréhension de la victimisation secondaire et de ses effets. Nous avons ainsi créé l’Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire in the Criminal Justice System (IBQ-CJS), un questionnaire que nous avons adapté et traduit en français à partir du Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire (IBQ) de Smith et Freyd (2013, 2017). L’IBQ-CJS a été employé auprès de 26 victimes (N = 26) impliquées dans des poursuites judiciaires et dont la cause avait été ou était présentement entendue devant une cour criminelle du Québec pour mesurer la victimisation secondaire. L’analyse des propriétés psychométriques de l’IBQ-CJS montre une bonne consistance interne (α = 0,82), alors que la validité de construit de l’instrument n’a pu être démontrée. L’IBQ-CJS a ensuite été employé pour explorer les facteurs de risque et les conséquences potentiellement associés à la victimisation secondaire, ce qui s’est avéré infructueux lors des analyses bivariées. Les limites et les avantages de cette étude, ainsi que les implications qui en découle pour de futures recherches, seront finalement soulignés. / Secondary victimisation occurs when crime victims are firstly harmed by the crime and suffer a second injury or an additional harm afterwards by the authorities of the criminal justice system. However, empirical studies conducted so far on the impact of the criminal justice system on victims are inconclusive. On this matter, the lack of a standardized measure for secondary victimisation has generated different operationalizations of this construct across studies, making it difficult to arrive to any generalizable conclusions regarding the results of past research. This study attempts to standardize this construct to give a better understanding of secondary victimisation and its effects. We created the Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire in the Criminal Justice System (IBQ-CJS), a questionnaire that we adapted and translated in French based on the Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire (IBQ) by Smith and Freyd (2013, 2017). The IBQ-CJS was employed among 26 victims (N = 26) who were involved in legal proceedings and whose causes were currently or had been heard in a criminal court of the province of Quebec to assess secondary victimisation. The analysis of the psychometric properties of the IBQ-CJS shows a high internal consistency (α = 0,82), although the construct validity of this instrument was inconclusive. The IBQ-CJS was secondly used to explore risk factors and consequences that might be linked to secondary victimisation, which also proved to be inconclusive using bivariate analysis. The limitations and the benefits of this study, as well as the implications it holds for future research, will finally be emphasized.

This thesis makes two significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge within crime prevention. The first of these is to evaluate the success of repeat victimisation prevention interventions. Interventions across four crime types are assessed herein, and the context-mechanisms-outcome configurations examined. The second contribution of this thesis is to assess two techniques of meta-evaluation: systematic reviews and realist syntheses. Each of these techniques is used in turn to assess the repeat victimisation prevention interventions. The contribution of each technique to the knowledge pool is then discussed, and the question of whether they are complementary or contradictory approaches answered. The thesis is framed in the context of evolutionary epistemology, which is the philosophy underpinning both approaches to meta-evaluation addressed herein. The thesis starts, with an examination of: firstly, how the evaluation methods in question have evolved, and the background to their scientific worth; and secondly, how situational crime prevention measures have evolved over time. The thesis then examines the two competing approaches for their contribution to the evaluation ecosystem by using both to assess repeat victimisation prevention interventions. Finally, the last section poses the question of whether it is survival of the fittest, or whether co-existence or adaptation could be the key to survival for these two meta-evaluative methodologies. Repeat victimisation prevention is revealed as an effective way of reducing crime, with a need for further research to apply the principle across further crime types. A requirement is identified for a greater breadth and depth of information to be included in future crime prevention evaluations. The systematic review is shown to be a useful way of assessing the overall effectiveness of the interventions, whilst the realist synthesis fills in the detail of why some interventions work and others fail. It is concluded that both approaches to meta-evaluation have useful contributions to make, and that a third way incorporating the best elements from each method should be developed.

Between 27% and 43% of the elderly express different forms of worry about victimization (WAV) (or fear of crime) in Canada (Beaulieu and al., 2003). According to Ferraro (1995), beside age, gender is an important predictor of fear of crime; women reporting the highest levels of perceived risk, constrained behaviours and fear. This study aims (1) to develop a WAV model from seventeen interviews with elderly women, and (2) to establish parallels between this qualitative model and the WAV quantitative model proposed by L'Espérance and al. (2006). Significant results (from grounded theory analysis) show many links between the three dimensions of worry about criminal victimization (emotional, cognitive, behavioural), and expose a series of influential factors associated to the concept. A few similitudes, but yet many significant differences, are found between the qualitative and the quantitative models. These results contribute to illustrate the nuances in information gained through inductive and hypothetico-deductive processes.

Die Komplexität des Sicherheitsempfindens bringt es mit sich, dass nicht wenige Theorien vorhanden sind, mit denen versucht wird, das Zustandekommen von Kriminalitätsfurcht bzw. Sicherheitsempfinden zu erklären. Die Theorie der generellen Ängste, der sozialen Desorganisation, der sozialen Problemperspektive bezeichnen einige Pfade dieser Entwicklung. Die erste und scheinbar selbstevidente Theorie war jene der Viktimisierung. Es schien auf der Hand zu liegen, dass Viktimsierungserfahrungen die Kriminalitätsfurcht steigern.

Le modèle de Patterson et Capaldi (1990) stipule que les problèmes de comportement extériorisés (PCE) chez les enfants entrainent des échecs sociaux et scolaires qui, ensuite, augmentent le risque de dépression. Ce modèle a seulement été testé auprès d’enfants qui n’avaient pas nécessairement de PCE. La présente étude teste ce modèle auprès de 281 enfants (48 % de filles) dont le niveau de PCE atteint un seuil clinique. Les symptômes dépressifs ont été mesurés à l’entrée dans l’étude puis trois ans plus tard. Les prédicteurs sont la coercition parentale, les conflits avec l’enseignant, la victimisation par les pairs et les compétences scolaires. Les résultats des analyses de régression montrent que seules les compétences scolaires prédisent une hausse du score de dépression. Ce lien n’est pas modéré par le genre. Ces résultats suggèrent d’accorder une importance aux compétences scolaires pour la prévention ou la réduction des symptômes dépressifs.

The current retributive approach to tackling hate crime, while intuitively grounded in the principle of proportionately, does little to either repair the harms caused by incidents of hate or engender greater levels of acceptance of those deemed as “different”. This thesis therefore explores whether restorative justice, a relatively new theory and practice of criminal justice, is better placed to tackle the causes and consequences of hate victimisation. The 18 month empirical study, carried out to examine the thesis’ aims, uses a triangulation approach by incorporating observations of restorative justice meetings, semi-structured interviews with victim participants and semi-structured interviews with restorative practitioners who have experience facilitating hate crime cases. The mainly qualitative data collated provides for a detailed evaluation of the various processes found within restorative practices that: 1) helped to alleviate the distress caused by hate victimisation and 2) prevented the recurrence of hate-motivated incidents. A broad conceptualisation of hate crime was used within the thesis that included “hate incidents”. This allowed me to explore the utility of restorative practices in cases involving serious violence and the more pervasive “low-level”, but nonetheless highly deleterious, non-criminal incidents of hate that are frequently committed against minority group individuals. There were also several unanticipated findings from the study. First, data emerged which highlighted various aspects of the restorative practice which were unforeseen as being central to the successful application of restorative processes, these are discussed throughout the thesis. Second, great insight was gained into the nature of hate victimisation, helping to unravel some of the complex socio-cultural factors pivotal to both the cause and effect of hate victimisation. It is hoped that these additional findings provide important epistemological advancements in both fields of study.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis examined the nature, experience and consequences of humiliation among Dalits (ex-Untouchables) in India (and also among UK students for comparative purposes). Social psychological research looks at humiliation as automatic, extreme and intense emotion which often leads to extreme and irrational behaviors (Lindner, 2002; Otten & Jonas, 2014; Elison & Harter, 2007). The research in this thesis contested this view and underlined the need to look at humiliation as 1) inherently relational or dynamic in nature, 2) a distinguishably group level phenomenon and 3) a mobilised phenomenon. Study 1 analysed the experiences of humiliation among Dalits and conceptualised humiliation as a complex social encounter in which one party attempts to diminish identity of another party. Study 1 also identified important dimensions of humiliating encounters that were examined in subsequent studies. Studies 2 - 3 manipulated perspective (victim or witness) and target of devaluation (personal identity or social identity) in a humiliating encounter and showed that the nature of humiliation and how it is experienced depends upon the way in which identities are defined in a humiliating encounter. Both UK students (Study 2) and Dalit participants (Study 3) confirmed the collective experience of humiliation i.e. one can feel humiliated simply by witnessing humiliation of another group member. Studies- 4 - 7 manipulated victim's response (resistance vs. compliance) during a humiliating encounter. These studies showed that humiliation is an encounter within power relations and victims of humiliation possess choice and agency to change the outcome of humiliating encounters. Study 8 analysed the humiliation rhetoric in the speeches of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the most important of Dalits leaders, and showed that the way in which humiliating encounter is resolved depends upon the mobilisation processes which can even change the nature of identities and, therefore, the nature of experience of the encounter.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the concept of victims of crime from the point of view of Criminology. It is presented within the law studies, so its object also consists of the analysis of the international and national legislation relating to the position and rights of the victim, or more precisely, the aggrieved party in criminal procedure. Firstly, the work presents the concept of Victimology - the scientific discipline about the victims of crime, and it focuses on processes and factors of the victimization. The following chapter is focused on the victimology prevention. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the study of the european legislation regarding the assistance, protection and compensation of victims of crime. Moreover the work describes the victimology legislation of Spain and the Czech Republic and compares the role of the aggrieved party in their criminal justice systems.

OBJECTIVES: The general aim of this research was to analyse the relationships between bullying (as a distinct form of aggression), victimisation, personal and collective self-esteem, and narcissism in adolescents. Baumeister et al. (1996) refuted the conventionally accepted view that low self-esteem is a cause of violence whereby, for example, those who lack self-esteem may use aggression as a means of dominating others and thereby gaining self-esteem. Instead, it may be that aggression is related to high self-esteem such that individuals with a combination of high levels of both self-esteem and narcissism are more likely to react aggressively to a perceived threat. Design: After a conducting a small pilot study (n = 112), the main study employed a large-scale cross-sectional survey with self-report questionnaires administered to school students during class. METHODS: Participants were drawn from six metropolitan high schools in Adelaide (South Australia), resulting in 1,628 adolescents (665 females & 963 males, aged 12-17 years) completing the survey. The questionnaire battery comprised modified self-report bully and victim versions of the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales (Bjorkqvist et al., 1992), personal (Rosenberg, 1979) and collective self-esteem (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) scales, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1981), and a measure of socially desirable responding (i.e., Impression Management; Paulhus, 1991). RESULTS: A variety of multivariate analyses controlling for socially desirable responses was employed to test and explore hypothesised relationships. Results showed no relationship between age and any form of bullying or victimisation. Boys reported significantly higher mean levels of direct and total bullying and victimisation, whereas girls reported higher levels of indirect bullying and victimisation. Victimisation was negatively correlated with personal self-esteem, and positively correlated with collective self-esteem. In contrast, bullying was positively correlated with personal self-esteem, with no significant relationship found with collective self-esteem. Collective and personal self-esteem did not differentially predict different types of bullying or victimisation. Narcissism was positively correlated with bullying. The predicted interaction between personal self-esteem, narcissism and bullying was evident, although the predicted collective self-esteem interaction was not found. Impression Management (social desirability) was significantly negatively correlated with bullying and, to a lesser extent, with victimisation. CONCLUSION: Research such as this into the possible causes and correlates of aggression and bullying will assist in the design, implementation, and maintenance of effective interventions. For example, as results corresponded with Baumeister et al.'s (1996) assertion in that bullying was related to high self-esteem, interventions that are designed to increase self-esteem might in reality be counterproductive and possibly contribute to an increase in bullying behaviour. Additionally, victims reported higher collective self-esteem than their non-victimised peers, clearly a novel finding worthy of further research. Findings suggested that, rather than running the risk of underreporting of socially undesirable behaviours, self-report methods provide a useful and valid means of measuring prevalence rates and internal states. Rather than underreporting aggressive behaviours, it is likely that respondents were being honest as they did not feel that these behaviours were, in fact, socially undesirable. The present sample reported bullying and victimisation prevalence rates that were comparatively high, despite using relatively conservative criteria, possibly due to an increased awareness of what constitutes bullying as a result of government and school anti-bullying policies and initiatives. The findings generally correspond with and build upon previous research. In addition, a number of the results are novel, providing numerous opportunities for future researchers to further explore and test the relationships between self-esteem, bullying, and victimisation.