Informal Help-Seeking
In addition to formal lines of help-seeking, victims seek help through informal sources, such as family, friends, coworkers, and social services. Research (Barrett & St. Pierre, 2011) has shown that victims are much more likely to report victimization
to family and friends (as high as 70 percent) and are more likely to engage with informal social networks for support than with formal help-seeking.
Family and friends are one of the most important resources for victims, regardless of whether they report their crime to the police or not (Kaukinen, 2002). Research has shown that the reaction of the first person the victim tells will affect their willingness to report the crime and see it through to the end of the court case. Family and friends affect not just the short-term response to the victimization but also how the victim sees themselves. They can either empower or disempower victims. Family and friends can bolster a sense of safety and security and can increase the sense of self-worth, as well as the efficacy, of a victim.
Studies that look in-depth at informal help-seeking have made several interesting findings. Reyns and Englebrecht’s 2014 study of stalking victims found that the more serious the event, the greater the use of informal help-seeking, as well as increased loss of time at work. Women have been shown to be more likely to use informal help-seeking, and findings are mixed about race, age, and marital status, as it seems to depend on the crime and seriousness of the event (McCart, Smith, & Sawyer, 2010). It is that more serious crimes necessitate the calling of the police and using more formal help-seeking, meaning that there is less need for informal help-seeking, especially as the sole source of help-seeking.
Vigils and rallies are common ways that victims of crime can be mourned and memorialized by family and friends. Above is an example of a vigil held by students after the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007. Displays of community solidarity and support can be a powerful way to support victims who survived. Image: 1000 points of light – Students at Virginia Tech hold a candlelight vigil after the Virginia Tech massacre. Authored by: alka3en of flickr. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Virginia_Tech_massacre_candlelight_vigil_Burruss.jpg License: CC-BY 2.0
As discussed in earlier modules, family and friends can be important emotional and physical support systems as well as financial support. The literature on help- seeking often links formal and informal help-seeking together and shows how they can complement each other. When friends and family support the victim through formal help-seeking, the advancements from victims’ rights movement are greatest, giving the victim a stronger voice in the process. The work that is done to help
victims recover is also part of a philosophy called restorative justice, which we will discuss in the next section.
Sources
Barrett, B. J., & Pierre, M. S. (2011). Variations in women’s help-seeking in response to intimate partner violence: Findings from a Canadian population-based study. Violence Against Women, 17(1), 47–70.
Beloof, D. E. (2005). The third wave of crime victims’ rights: Standing, remedy, and review. BYU Law Review, 2005(1), 255–359.
Cassell, P. G. (2015). Introduction: The maturing victims’ rights movement. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Las, 13(1), 1–4.
Desmond, M., Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. (2016). Police violence and citizen crime reporting in the black community. American Sociological Review, 81(5), 857–876.
Felson, R. B., & Lantz, B. (2016). When are victims unlikely to cooperate with the police? Aggressive Behavior, 42(1), 97–108.
Gill, C., Weisburd, D., Telep, C. W., Vitter, Z., & Bennett, T. (2014). Community- oriented policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy among citizens: A systematic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10(4), 399–428.
Giannini, M. M. (2015). Measured mercy: Managing the intersection of executive pardon power and victims’ rights with procedural justice principles. Ohio St. Journal Criminal Law, 13, 89.
Leary, M. G. (2015). The third dimension of victimization. Ohio St. Journal Criminal Law, 13, 139.
Kaukinen, C. (2002). The help-seeking decisions of violent crime victims: An examination of the direct and conditional effects of gender and the victim-offender relationship. Journal of Interpersonal violence, 17(4), 432–456.
Kaukinen, C. (2004). The help-seeking strategies of female violent-crime victims: The direct and conditional effects of race and the victim-offender relationship. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19(9), 967–990.
McCart, M. R., Smith, D. W., & Sawyer, G. K. (2010). Help-seeking among victims of crime: A review of the empirical literature. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23(2), 198–206.
Messing, J. T., Becerra, D., Ward-Lasher, A., & Androff, D. K. (2015). Latinas’ perceptions of law enforcement: Fear of deportation, crime reporting, and trust in the system. Affilia, 30(3), 328–340.
Rand, M. R. (2008). Criminal victimization, 2007 (U.S. Department of Justice Report NCJ 224390). Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs.
Reina, A. S., Lohman, B. J., & Maldonado, M. M. (2014). “He said they’d deport me” factors influencing domestic violence help-seeking practices among Latina immigrants. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(4), 593–615.
Reyns, B. W., & Englebrecht, C. M. (2014). Informal and formal help-seeking decisions of stalking victims in the United States. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(10), 1178–1194.
Schleiter, K. E. (2009). When patient-physician confidentiality conflicts with the law. AMA Journal of Ethics, 11(2), 146–148.
Tyler, T. R., Jackson, J., & Mentovich, A. (2015). The consequences of being an object of suspicion: Potential pitfalls of proactive police contact. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 12(4), 602–636.