Perhaps due to the inherent difficulty of studying victims,
most psychological research on injustice has focused on third-party observers, often discounting the perspective of the victim.
To address this gap in the literature, my research has attempted to develop a broad framework for understanding the social-psychological concerns underlying victimization.
We assert that there are two broad categories of symbolic concerns that follow from
the experience of injustice, concern over: (1) the status/power relations between the involved parties, and
(2) the violation of the values those parties expect to share.
Moreover, these concerns can exist at multiple levels of identity: (a) the interpersonal-level, between the victim and offender,
(b) the intragroup-level, within the group in which the injustice occurred, and/or (c) the intergroup-level, between different social groups.
Recognizing these concerns is paramount to understanding the psychological needs of injustice victims,
how they conceptualize the restoration of justice, and the processes by which various interventions
instill feelings of justice. This framework also elucidates when alternative avenues towards justice
might be more effective than traditional retributive responses.
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