The experiences of homicide co-victims: the impact of not being an "ideal victim"

Abstract

Homicide co-victims are the loved ones of homicide victims that survive after their murder. These individuals often suffer negative psychological, physical, and social impacts after the homicide. Further, many homicide co-victims take on the role of advocate for their murdered loved one in the criminal justice system. Homicide co-victims often represent their murdered loved one in police interactions, in court, and in other aspects of the criminal justice process. Given the difficulties this population often faces and the limited research on their experiences, this project focused on the experiences of homicide co-victims and their recommendations for improving responses to and services for homicide co-victims in the future. This research aimed to understand how homicide co-victims perceived their experiences with the police, the criminal justice system, and victim services and whether their experiences differed based on the ideal or non-ideal victim status of their murdered loved one using Christie’s Ideal Victim Theory. The methods used in the project were qualitative, semi-structured interviews with twenty-eight homicide co-victims across four different states. The results of these interviews demonstrated that losing an ideal or non-ideal homicide victim was not a significant indicator of police response or court experiences. However, homicide co-victims who lost ideal victims were more likely to have their loved one’s homicide case progress to the trial stage. Comparatively, ideal victim status did seem to matter when examining victim services, where homicide co-victims with ideal homicide victims were offered services more frequently than homicide co-victims with non-ideal homicide victims. Other factors, like race and class, are discussed in an attempt to explain the discrepancies in police response to homicide cases. Recommendations to improve responses to and services for homicide co-victims. Other factors, like race and class, are discussed in an attempt to explain the discrepancies in police response to homicide cases. Recommendations to improve responses to and services for homicide co-victims are also provided.