This episode gives an overview of victimology, a field dedicated to studying crime victims. They explain that victimology has evolved from a historically overlooked area to a crucial component of criminology, relying heavily on victim surveys like the Crime Survey for England and Wales to capture unreported crimes. The texts highlight two primary sociological approaches: Positivist Victimology, which focuses on identifying risk factors and patterns among victims, often considering demographic information, and Critical Victimology, a more radical perspective that examines how power, social inequality, and state actions define and create victims, including those of corporate or state-sponsored crimes. Both sources underscore the shift in focus from solely the offender to understanding the victim's experience and the broader societal forces at play.