Abstract
This paper will provide a definition and history of victimology as well as give examples of real life victims. Second, this paper will discuss how victimology is different from criminology, sociology and psychology. This paper will also discuss hate crimes, the first safe house for battered women, children’s rights groups. Finally, this paper will also discuss organizations that provide advocacy for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and homicides.

Introduction to Victimology Victimology is the study of victims of crime and the interactions between the victim and the perpetrator (victimology, 2006). Victimology is to investigate the victims role in the commission of crimes and sometimes the psychological effect those crimes have on the victims (victimology, 2007).
Today’s criminal justice system is a fairly new appearance, in the middle ages victims themselves were responsible for dealing with criminals on their own as there were no authorities to enforce the law. Murder has always been unacceptable behavior, but it was always up to the victims or their survivors to determine the course of action to be taken against the person committing the crime. In 2200 B.C.E. was when Law of Moses, the Code of Hammurabi and Roman law all consisted of elements to individual responsibility for harms committed against others (Doerner & Lab, 2008). It was until the 1940’s that the criminal justice system decided to not only focus their time in trying to understand the criminal activity and criminal behavior but to focus on the victim and possibly be a contributor to their own demise instead of a person that needed sympathy or compassion (Doerner & Lab, 2008). Hans Von Hentig and Benjamin Mendelsohn are two criminologists who began to explore the field of victimology by creating typologies. They are considered the "fathers