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An ideal victim is one who is afforded the status of victimhood due to unavoidable circumstances that put the individual at a disadvantage to their attacker. One can apply this theory to any crime including and especially sexual assault. Nils Christie, a Norwegian criminology professor, has been theorizing about the concept of the ideal victim since the 1980s. In his research he gives two examples, one of an old woman who is attacked on her way home from visiting her family and the other of a man who is attacked at a bar by someone he knew. He describes the old woman as an ideal victim because she could not avoid being in the location that she was, she did not know her attacker, and she could not fight off her attacker. The man, however, could have avoided being at a bar, knew his attacker, and should have been able to fight off his attacker, being younger and a man.

When applying the ideal victim theory to sexual assault victims, often judicial proceedings define an ideal victim as one who resists her attacker and exercises caution in risky situations despite law reforms to extinguish these fallacious requirements. When victims are not ideal they are at risk for being blamed for their attack because they are not considered real victims of rape. Because they do not fit the criteria being laid out in the rape law, they cannot be considered real victims and thereby their attacker will not be prosecuted.

A victim who is not considered an ideal or real victim is one who leads a “high risk” lifestyle, partaking in drugs or alcohol, or is perceived as promiscuous. A victim who intimately knows her attacker is also not considered an ideal victim. Examples of a sexual assault victim who is not ideal is a prostitute because they lead a high risk lifestyle. The perception is that these behaviors discount the credibility of a sexual assault victim’s claim or that the behaviors and associations create the mistaken assumption of consent. Some of or all of the blame of the assault is then placed on these victims, and so they are not worthy of having their case presented in court. These perceptions persist in court rulings despite a shift in laws favoring affirmative consent- meaning that the participants in a sexual activity give a verbal affirmation rather than one participant who doesn’t answer negatively nor does he or she answer positively. In other words affirmative consent is yes means yes and no means no.

In addition to an ideal victim, there must be an ideal perpetrator for a crime to be considered ideal. The ideal attacker does not know their victim and is a completely unrelatable figure- one who is considered sub-human, an individual lacking morals. An attacker that knows their victim is not considered an ideal attacker, nor is someone who seems morally ordinary. Cases of intimate partner violence are not considered ideal because the victim knows their attacker. Husbands and wives are not ideal victims or perpetrators because they are intimately familiar with each other.

Ref1-This article talks about feminist influences on victimology along with speaking about rape law and the how the ideal victim fits into court proceedings in sexual assault cases. I found this source useful because it talked about the ideal victim influences laws pased.

ref2-This reference is about how the concept of the ideal victim affects canadian judicial proceedings. Despite progressive changes in laws, courts still dig into an accuser's sexual history to discredit a victim.

ref3- In this reference Gotell describes what the qualifications of risky women and how they are related to the ideal victim concept. I found it useful because it easily laid out the qualifications for someone who is not considered an ideal victim.

ref4-Christie, a criminology professor talks about his theory of the ideal victim and perpetrator. He gives examples and mentions the concept's application in sexual assault. This source was very useful because it talked about both the ideal victim and perpetrator

ref5- This source talked about how men were not ideal victims of sexual assault because they were considered not manly enough if they couldn't fight off their attacker. I found this source helpful becase it talked about men as not being ideal victims.

ref6- This reference speaks to how victims of sexual assault who know their attacker intimately struggle to get their attacker sentenced in court. Since this reference focused on violence between partners it described how intimate partners are not ideal victims or ideal perpetrators

ref7- In this source Berns talks about ideal victims and perpetrators with a special focus on sexual assault victims and perpetrators. This source was very indepth and easy to read.

ref8- This source used 20 interviews to discuss how police handled sexual assault cases and also gave suggestions on how to improve sexual assault investigations. I thought this source to be very interesting because it also included suggestions for positive change.

Notes

Stringer, Rebecca (2013). "Vulnerability after Wounding: Feminism, Rape Law, and the Differend". SubStance. 42 (132). Amsterdam: Elsevier: 148–168. Randall, Melanie (2010). "Sexual Assault Law, Credibility, and "Ideal Victims": Consent, Resistance, and Victim Blaming". Canadian Journal of Women and the Law. 22. Toronto: University of Toronto Press: 397–434. Gotell, Lise (2008). "Rethinking Affirmative Consent in Canadian Sexual Assault Law: Neoliberal Sexual Subjects and Risky Women". Akron Law Review. 41 (4). Akron: Akron University Press: 865–898. Christie, Nils (1986). The Ideal Victim. London: Macmillian Press. pp. 17–30. Andersen, Torbjørn Herlof (2013). "Against The Wind: Male Victimization And The Ideal Of Manliness". Journal of Social Work. 13 (3). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications: 231–247. doi:10.1177/1468017311410002. Meyer, Silke (2016). "Still Blaming The Victim Of Intimate Partner Violence? Women'S Narratives Of Victim Desistance And Redemption When Seeking Support". Theoretical Criminology. 20 (1). Thousands Oaks: SAGE Publications: 75–90. doi:10.1177/1362480615585399. Berns, Nancy (2004). Victim. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers. Greeson, Megan (2016). "' Nobody Deserves This': Adolescent Sexual Assault Victims' Perceptions Of Disbelief And Victim Blame From Police". Journal of Community Psychology. 44 (1). Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media: 90–110.