Prosecuting professional mistake: Secondary victimization and a research agenda for criminology

Sidney W. A. Dekker

Lund University, Sweden

Abstract:

This paper investigates a largely unexplored area in criminology: the secondary victimization of professionals whose mistake has been turned into a crime. It presents the criminal prosecution of professional mistake as something that is seen a growing problem in a number of safety-critical domains such as healthcare, aviation, shipping and construction, as it may seriously threaten safety initiatives in these fields. Secondary victimization of professionals accused of crime is then explored as a possible research topic in its own right, but seen to meet obstacles related to the field of victimology, as well as the epistemological propensities in both criminology and many safety-critical domains. The paper also presents some of the possible social factors behind increasing criminalization of professional mistake, a fruitful area for social-constructionist criminology.

Keyword:

Professional mistake, second victim, criminalization, prosecution, accountability;