Victimology in the Penal Justice System with Special Reference to Women and Children

The term victim in general parlance refers to all those who experience injury, loss or hardship due to any cause and one of such causes maybe crime. Therefore, victimology may be defined as a study of people who experience injury or hardship due to any cause. It involves study of victim characteristics and maybe called victim profiling. Victimology recognises two types of victims: first type consists of direct victims i. e. those who are alive and suffering on account of the harm inflicted by the accused while committing the crime and second type comprises of indirect victims who are dependants of the direct victims of crimes who undergo sufferings due to deprivation of their breadwinner. A victim of crime cannot be a forgotten person in a criminal justice system. It is he who has suffered the most. Victimology is the science of study of victimization and relation of victim and offender and the interaction between victim and criminal justice system. The present research paper will deal with the most vulnerable class of the society, i. e. children and women.