Sentencing in the shadows: A criminological and victimological analysis of secondary victimization and its psychosocial dimensions in the contemporary criminal justice system

Abstract

This academic essay—analytical, critical, and descriptive-documentary in nature—addresses the complex phenomenon of secondary victimization from a cutting-edge criminological and victimological perspective. Through a rigorous deconstruction of the theoretical postulates of Ebbe Dagobert Neuman, Antonio Beristain Ipiña, Martin Symonds, Robert Elias, and Luis Rodriguez Manzanera, the study examines in depth how the modern criminal justice system, rather than providing protection and redress, inflicts institutionalized violence that exacerbates, prolongs, and chronicizes the original harm. It exhaustively analyzes the multidimensional and systemic impact of this phenomenon, detailing with clinical precision severe psychological sequelae such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the induction of guilt, emotional collapse, and cognitive dissonance. Concurrently, it explores tangible social consequences, manifested in community stigmatization, isolation, the rapid erosion of the social fabric, and profound distrust of the rule of law. The study situates these global dynamics within the complex, historic, and turbulent reality of Latin America—and specifically, the structural challenges facing El Salvador. Finally, it proposes an urgent and imperative transition toward a justice system grounded in humanistic approaches, the adoption of genuine victim-centered models, and the implementation of comprehensive reparation as the guiding principle of criminal policy.