The field of victimology has become an area of serious scientific enquiry only recently and now attracts
a wide range of theories from within multiple disciplines. In this paper the contribution that the science
of behavior analysis can make to the conceptualization of the field is explored by investigating what
makes people vulnerable to becoming victims or indeed perpetrators of violence and by examining why
some people who have experienced violent incidents become victims while others grow to be survivors.
A behavior analytic perspective sheds new light on these issues.