Kate Fox
Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University
Key Findings
- For bullying, the WITS system, an acronym for walk away, ignore it, talk it out, seek help, was supported by multiple evaluations as reducing victimization.
- No studies designed to reduce victimization of intimate partner violence or general victimization were shown to be effective.
- The modified Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction Program, which incorporates group discussion, videos, and self-defense class, showed the most support for enhancing attitudes about sexual assault victims.
- Many programs effectively increased awareness of victimization by using creative components like videos, puppet shows, role-playing and more.
Description
In the article, “What Works to Reduce Victimization? Synthesizing What We Know and Where to Go From Here,” Fox and her co-author evaluate the effectiveness of programs meant to reduce victimization. The authors classified victimization into four groups: bullying, intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, and other general forms of victimization. The researchers conducted their study reviewing and coding 83 studies that evaluated programs that reduce victimization, enhance attitudes about victims, and improve awareness of victims issues successfully. The results showed that for bullying, the WITS system, an acronym for walk away, ignore it, talk it out, seek help, was supported by multiple evaluations as reducing victimization. No studies designed to reduce victimization of intimate partner violence or general victimization were shown to be effective. The modified Ohio University Sexual Assault Risk Reduction Program, which incorporates group discussion, videos, and self-defense class, showed the most support for enhancing attitudes about sexual assault victims. Many programs effectively increased awareness of victimization by using creative components like videos, puppet shows, role-playing and more. The authors note that to see more success in the field, practitioners and researchers must work together for programs to develop with methodologically sound designs so the field can have more trustworthy findings.