Attacks on people for no other reason than their being different from the majority have a deeply disturbing effect not only on the attacked person him or herself but also on other members of the respective minority group. This paper examines the social consequences of this special form of victimization, starting with an analysis of the concept of the victim.

We argued that the impact of victimization depends on the importance of the violated norm for the victim. We discuss different possibilities for restoring a violated norm and the risks involved, using data from two qualitative studies, giving special emphasis to the role of the police and the courts. We shown that the sensitivity of these institutions to the victims’ needs depends on successful communication of the victimization, and distinguish four aspects of the communication of victimization. On the basis of our findings we make some proposals for improving victim assistance.