The Devastating Impact of Crime on Victims

I cannot fully explain the devastating effects of crimes on their victims. Even when the perpetrator(s) have long forgotten and years have passed, the victim never forgets. The memory may fade with time, but when triggered, it can resurface just as quickly with all its emotions as if the incident had happened yesterday.

Having been a victim of crime myself, I speak from experience when I list some of the things I went through after the incident. To find out more about what happened to me I give a detailed account in my post on tinybuddha.com.

Here are seven things about the aftermath that no one prepares you for:

1. The Paralysing Shock

This shock can leave you feeling numb and unable to process what just happened. You are unable to process your emotions or put them into words.

2. The Rollercoaster of Emotions

When you start feeling again, your emotions go from one extreme to the other. One day you are strong, the next day you are weak; one moment you are angry at the perpetrator, and the next you are blaming yourself for not doing enough to prevent the crime.

3. The Nightmares

They are vivid, especially right after the incident. They keep you awake and add a lack of sleep to your bag of stress. I still remember the first nightmare I had after my aggravated burglary, and that was 13 years ago now.

4.  The Fear for Your Safety

It’s one thing to not feel safe outside your home, but it’s another to not feel safe inside your home, which is supposed to be your haven. After a crime, it can take some time before you feel safe to go to certain places or do certain things again, and that’s okay. If you can change the environment completely, it can help speed up the process.

5. The Dissociation

Dissociation from your immediate environment or the incident. This is the moment when you disconnect from the incident, almost as if you’re looking in from the outside as if the crime happened to someone else.

6. The Loneliness

The loneliness of being pushed into the background while the offender becomes the center of attention. This often happens when you go through the justice system, you quickly realise that everything is about the offender and less about the victim. They’re the focus and you’re on the sidelines.

7. The Long-term Effects of Trauma

For the victim, the trauma of crime never goes away and like other traumas, it changes brain chemistry that can manifest physically through things like panic attacks and paranoia.

A Little Encouragement

Even though a victim never forgets a crime, they can use it to better themselves and others. Being a victim of a crime, directly or indirectly, can often be a powerful motivator, facilitating change and becoming a haven to which others in similar situations can go. So sometimes bad things happen so that something greater than yourself can emerge for the benefit of all.

And with that, let me leave you with this:

“For far too long the victims of crime have been the forgotten persons of the criminal justice system.”                                                                                                                                      

Ronald Reagan