Physical Impacts of Victimization—Ability to Function in Society
Being the victim of a crime can lead to significant problems with daily routines and activities. Feelings of fear, trauma, and self-doubt can severely limit people’s ability to complete normal daily functions like parenting, working, and maintaining close relationships and social lives. This section is an examination as to how these areas are impacted by crime.
Parenting
Most of the victimization literature around parenting has focused on violence in the home, such as domestic violence or sexual abuse, and its effect on the ability of someone to parent (Hanson, Sawyer, Begle, & Hubel, 2010). The literature on the effects of domestic violence has shown that when violence is occurring at home, parenting often suffers, but after the violence ends, parents try to compensate and increase their parenting (Letourneau, Fedick, & Willms, 2007). Prior histories of abuse and violent victimization are also associated with factors that can reduce parenting, such as depression and anxiety. Dustmann and Fasani (2016) found that local crime increases depression and anxiety, especially in women. Further, they found that it often results in behavioral changes that are an effort to reduce the likelihood of being a victim.