| Despite the fact that "victimology" has been in existence for about half a century ago, it has been dubbed as an imbroglio science or to some as an unclear discipline. Such observation may some what be due to, perhaps, inadequacy or even inaccessibility of literatures and materials as we)) as publications of works on victimology. Hitherto, it is unsurprising that even academics are not quite familiar, let alone the general public, with the subject . As such, it is almost not an uncommon phenomena for anyone who 'attempts' to introduce victimology would .have the task of unfolding it ab initio. This is understandable since there is not a single book available which gives a contemporaneous account of the state of victimology from its inception. Hence, what is "victimology? Is it a branch of criminology or is it a specific science in its own right? These questions can only be answered depending on the definition of victimology and who defines it. As yet, there is no single comprehensive theory of victimology. In fact no one is certain as to the extent and limit of victimology ever since it was first coined by Benjamin Mendclsohn and as Schafer explicitly pointed out, even Mendelsohn himself is not clear on this matter." |