ABSTRACT
Victimologists have been studying Queer victims of crime, at least certain types of crimes, for some time. Indeed, Queer victims are far more often the focus of criminological research than Queer offenders. While they have not been completely ignored, Queer victims have been under-investigated and misunderstood, hence the need for a subfield dedicated to centering and privileging the experiences of LGBTQ+ people within victimological work. Thoughtful and sincere queer victimological research has the potential to shed light on the unique experiences of Queer victims, despite the inevitable challenges. In this chapter, we take stock of what might make Queer victimology worthy of its own recognition as a subfield within victimology more broadly. Drawing on examples from the existing literature, this chapter focuses on what the task of Queer victimology should be, what unique issues Queer victimology can help us understand, what unique challenges face our understanding of Queer victimization, and what issues future Queer victimological projects might investigate.
