Running head: Is it possible to end victim-blaming? 1
Is it possible to end victim-blaming?
Fatima I. Portillo
Bridgewater State University
Is it possible to end victim-blaming? 2
Introduction:
Victim-blaming can be defined as an “argument that specific victims bear some
responsibility along with their offenders for what happened… assumes that the offender and the
victim are somehow partners in crime…” (Karmen, 2020 p. 151). Victim-blaming “can apply to
cases of rape and sexual assault, but also to more mundane crimes,” (The Psychology of Victim
Blaming, 2016).The particular function of victim-blaming is to indicate that the victim is also
part of the problem. In this case, it is not just the offender, the belief is that if the victim had done
something different she/he would not have been victimized. It is a concept that analyses and
concludes that the victims of crime get what they deserve. In this instance the argument that
could be presented is that the victim of the crime provoked the offender therefore she/he got
