The Politics of Victimization

By Robert Elias

Victimology isn’t just about justice – it’s about all of us.

Robert Elias brings us a seminal study of victims and victimization, considering how victimization reflects American society itself.

He argues that the study of victimology requires more than merely analyzing criminal justice; it requires linking it to much wider social, political and economic issues. This study rejects the official definition of crime and establishes a relationship between victimology and human rights, thus advocating a ‘new’ victimology which embraces victims of both crime and repression.

Human rights violations cause crimes, so how can we claim to support crime victims if we don’t care about the roots of crime?

The Politics of Victimization proposes a groundbreaking new way of thinking about victimology in an acclaimed study. A must-read for fans of Michael B. Katz or Dambisa Moyo.

Robert Elias teaches law and politics at the University of San Francisco. He was previously a researcher with the International Institute of Human Rights, the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Oxfam America, the Institute for Defense & Disarmament Studies, and the Vera Institute of Justice. He is the author of The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad Victims of the System, amongst other titles. He lives in Mill Valley, California.