When the victim of a crime is told that they are in some way responsible for their situation. This generally happens very subtly, to the point where the victim and the accusor can be unaware that it is happening. A common example is in rape cases, where commentators say things like "She should have expected it wearing those clothes", or "That's what happens when you get that drunk." These comments remove responsibility from the actual perpetrator and erode the freedoms that people should expect.

Victim blaming is always fallacious, as it is part of the superset of the just-world hypothesis. Blame should always be attributed to the perpetrator of the crime.