The first of these, the victim precipitation theory, views victimology from the standpoint that the victims themselves may actually initiate, either passively or actively, the criminal act that ultimately leads to injury or death. During passive precipitation, the victim unconsciously exhibits behaviors or characteristics that instigate or encourage the attack. Siegel (2006) lists job promotions, job status, successes, love interests, and the like as examples of these unconscious behaviors and characteristics. Additionally, political activists, minority groups, those of different sexual orientations, and other individuals pursuing alternate lifestyles may also find themselves as targets of violence due to the inadvertent threat they pose to certain individuals of power.
Essentially, the victim precipitation theory focuses on the idea that passive precipitation of violence is a result of a power struggle. A politician may feel threatened by an activist group leader because his action draws attention to negative aspects of his personality and actions that will, or may cause, a loss of power in society. This sort of passive precipitation may also be present when the victim is not even aware of the existence of the attacker.
In this instance a new employee may push up the corporate ranks quickly, threatening long-time employees; or a transexual may be the victim of crime due to their existence "threatening" the beliefs and/or ideas of another individual or group of individuals. The latter is a good example of a hate crime, in which victims are often unaware of the individuals that perpetrate the crime, yet their actions and/or characteristics trigger the crime.
Active precipitation, on the other hand, is the opposite of the afore-described. Victimization under this theory occurs through the threatening or provocative actions of the victim. One of the most controversial points of this theory is the idea that women who are raped actively contributed in some way, either through provocative dress, a relationship, or suggested consent of intimacy (Siegel, 2006). Because of this viewpoint, it is hard to convict an accused rapist who has had some form of relationship with the accused, or one that was behaving provocatively or suggestively. When dealing with this theory we must ask ourselves whether or not it is really okay to blame the occurrence of a crime on the victim. This is especially true in cases of rape when flirtation may be present, yet there is no consent to sexual intercourse.