Editing Victimology (section)

== Penal couple ==
The ''penal couple'' is defined as the relationship between perpetrator and victim of a crime. That is, both are involved in the event.<ref>"Criminology Today" (4th ed. Prentice Hall), found at [http://www.prenhall.com/cjcentral/crimtoday4e/glossary/p.html Criminal Justice Glossary at the Prentice Hall website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223083938/http://www.prenhall.com/cjcentral/crimtoday4e/glossary/p.html |date=2012-12-23 }}.  Retrieved April 1, 2009.</ref>  A sociologist invented the term in 1963.<ref name=Harris>Robert Harris, ''Crime, criminal justice, and the probation service'', (Routledge, 1992) {{ISBN|978-0-415-05034-0}}, at 56 (citing Mendelsohn 1963), found at [https://books.google.com/books?id=DT4OAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22penal+couple%22&pg=PA56 Google Books].  Retrieved April 1, 2009.</ref>  The term is now accepted by many [[sociologist]]s.<ref name=Harris /><ref name=Domestic>Pawanjit, "Hiring Domestic Help Without Verification," ''Premier Shield Newsletter'', found at [http://www.premiershield.com/newsletter_june.pdf Premier Shield Newsletter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509210035/http://www.premiershield.com/newsletter_june.pdf |date=2008-05-09 }} (pdf). Retrieved April 1, 2009.</ref><ref name="Van Ness" />  The concept is, essentially, that "when a crime takes place, it has two partners, one the offender and second the victim, who is providing opportunity to the criminal in committing the crime."<ref name=Domestic />  The victim, in this view, is "a participant in the penal couple and should bear some 'functional responsibility' for the crime."<ref>M. C. Sengstock & J. Liang, "Elderly Victims of Crime – A Refinement of Theory in Victimology," ([[AARP]] study 1979), found at [http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=74191 National Criminal Justice Reference service (NCJRS) Abstracts – a United States government website].  Retrieved April 1, 2009.</ref>  The very idea is rejected by some other victimologists as  [[Victim blaming|blaming the victim]].<ref name="Van Ness">Daniel W. Van Ness, ''Crime and its victims: what we can do'', (InterVarsity Press, 1986) {{ISBN|978-0-87784-512-6}} at 29, found at [https://books.google.com/books?id=QX8jrxTBu10C&dq=%22penal+couple%22&pg=PA29 Google Books].  Retrieved April 1, 2009.</ref>