Child Victim’s Needs: Findings from the Psycho–Social Literature

This chapter uses a different prism to look at childhood victimization and its challenges, namely, a psycho–social one. Its goals are, first, to reveal what the psycho– social literature tells us about the needs of child victims; second, to test whether these findings may be correlated with children’s human rights discussed in the previous chapter, as reflected in the Convention; and third, to find out whether this literature contributes new understandings to the children’s rights discourse. To answer these questions, this chapter reviews findings regarding the effects of crime on adults and children, as well as theories relating to stress, coping and trauma in childhood and adolescence. It further explores empirical studies supporting these theories. Since many of the theories in these areas have not been developed, nor tested, specifically around children, literature pertaining to adult victimization is discussed as well. Accordingly, the chapter first reviews findings regarding the needs of victims in general, and those of child victims in particular, in the aftermath of crimes against them. It then moves on to map various psycho–social theories on coping with trauma and victimization and some empirical findings supporting them. Finally, a combined empirical–normative framework of needs and rights is proposed as a template for evaluating responses to childhood victimization and for creating new ones. This chapter begins with descriptive information about what victims face in the aftermath of their victimization.