ned to expose the dark family secret that Jose Menendez had been molesting them for years. Prosecutors contended that the boys killed their parents to get their hands on the family’s fortune. Forensic psychologists are often used in cases like this. Their responsibilities include providing “advice to legislators, judges, correctional officers, lawyers and the police…are called upon to serve as expert witnesses…diagnose and treat incarcerated and probational offenders; and screen and evaluate personnel in the law enforcement and judicial systems” (Forensic 1). This analysis will discuss many of the kinds of cases where defense attorneys try to use evidence against the victims of crimes to prove that they somehow were responsible for their own victimization.
There are two kinds of crimes that appear to warrant the most defenses based on placing blame on the victims of the crime rather than the perpetrator. These two crimes are rape and murder. While domestic violence is also a common crime where placing the blame on the victim occurs, this analysis will focus on rape and murder and briefly touch on a few other crimes where the victim is blamed. Forensic psychology is concerned with emotional and behavioral questions. When it comes to rape they are perfectly suited to assess these kinds of questions because rape is a crime that brings to the table a host of emotional and behavioral theories on behalf of both the perpetrator (primarily male) and the victim (primarily female). More often than not, the victim of a rape, especially if it is date rape or someone the woman knows, is accused as being at least partially responsible for the behavior of her attacker. As one rape survivor comments:
Rape is the only felony that places the onus on the survivor. If an assailant held you at knifepoint, asked you for your wallet, and you complied, there is no question that a crime was committed. You would not be asked if you h...