Blaming the Victim Elizabeth Smart is shown here talking about her experiences during captivity. At age 14, Smart was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom and held captive for nine months. She was deprived of food and raped multiple times every day. After she was rescued, many people asked why she hadn’t done more to escape. After all, they pointed out, her captor often brought a veiled Smart out in public. Fighting back against victim blaming, Smart explained that she was terrified by her captor’s threats against her family: “You can never judge a child or a victim of any crime on what they should have done, because you weren’t there and you don’t know” (Serrano, 2013). Why do people often “blame the victim” after crimes, accidents, or other tragedies?

AP Photo/Jim Urquhart