Support Staffs’ Perception of their Role in Supporting Crime Victims. A

Case Study of Brottsofferjouren(BOJ), Gothenburg, Sweden

Conference Paper prepared for SWSD July 2012.

Stockholm, Sweden.Hadijah Mwenyango

University of Gothenburg/ Makerere University

International Master of Science in Social Work and Human Rights.

Overview Short background of the organisation

and the social work they do Literature My research Conclusions References

Who they are? BrottsofferJouren (BOJ) is a voluntary victim

support organization operating as an association of volunteers (‘ideell förening’).

Main Goal: to give support and help to people that have been subjected to crime.

Ideology: Authorities within the public sector are responsible for taking care of the perpetrator from the time of custody until the sentence has been served, but no one helps the victim.

Service Users & Social Work

Victims of crimes such as robbery, assault, rape or threats of violence, witnesses of crime and relatives to victims of crime

Sourcing clients: police referrals(71%), at court houses and ,direct contact by clients.

Social Work. Help with judicial procedures in court- that is giving

personal support in court in form of witness support Deal with compensation claims- help with filling out

forms to the insurance company or other authorities. Therapy- through counseling- support groups

intended for individuals coping with the murder of a friend or relative( recent from 2010)

Extent of the problem Reach: over 2500 people per a year! Limited staff Financial constraints to meet its

facilitation and operational costs Minimal govenment support

Literature Ljungwald’s (2011) :The Emergency of Crime Victims

in the Swedish Social Services Act’-public social workers not familiar with crime victims

Lindgren’ (2004) how crime victims interacted with central actors in the criminal system e.g. police and public prosecutors. Victims are not priority.

Christian K.& Johannes F. (2011):explored how social workers working with victims of crime, understand men as victims of violence-men emotionally locked

Svensson (2007) :Victim Support in a Changing Welfare State-the need of support for crime victims often comes from secondary victimization. Those that need it have loose bonds with society.

Research Questions In what way do support staffs

perceive/ describe crime victims who need their support?

How do support staffs perceive themselves as practitioners in supporting crime victims?

How do support staffs view the support they give to crime victims (perception of the role.

Theory and practice Anti- Oppressive Practice requires an empowering

approach, working in partnership with service users; minimal intervention as well as critical reflection and reflexivity (Dalrymple and Burke, 2008)

Central focus on critical self knowledge about own practice

Reflective thoughts can enable us to deconstruct and reconstruct the knowledge informing our practice, so that we can evaluate its effectiveness, and develop ways of working that are not oppressive (Dalrymple and Burke, 2008)

Role theory: describes roles as sets of expectations or behaviors associated with positions in social structures

social roles are useful in understanding relationships and personality (Perlman 1986).

roles may become complementary, be in conflict, or be ambiguous (Payne 1997)

Methods

In-depth interviews drawn from three study visits to BOJ Gothenburg

Field notes from informal discussions with the volunteers- from a visit to the Court house .

Documentary analyses of existing literature on the subject.

Finding 1 Desrciption of crime victims Depends on the degree of innocence, Type of trauma Gender: women(61%) and children more represented in

the victim status (Male prejudice)Thus someone who is inferior, powerless and passive Leading to categories Ideal victims/ deserving and un desearving: responsibilty

for crime. Drug addicts, homeless don fit in the bracket. Hypersensitive victims- past trauma (e.g refugees,

adults with childhood abuse, women with previous experinces of sexual abuse)longer healing times

Issue: secondary victimisation: risk for further violation and pains.

Finding 2 Perception of the self (as support

staffs)Resources: have links with various networks

e.g. Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, politicians etc- these enable them to mobilse other resources like money.

Professionals/Experts: knowlegable and exeprienced in relation to the legal process, liability and insurance; compensation issues. Educators in a sence

Finding 3 Description/perception of the

supportive role. Empowering: educate their clients

about SOL Article 5(11) which grants them right to support, provide general information concerning courtroom proceedings, guide them as of how to contact the insurance and claim benefits . I.e. they process people

Facilitative: victims need to be listened to and believed. So they offer a non judgmental and safe listening environment about their personal experiences which enables the victims to gain self confidence in order to coherently tell their stories to the authorities. Victims write, read, learn and know their stories

Restorative: Main agenda. Form groups e.g. sexually assaulted women, grieving etc. get rid of isolation and share distorted experiences. Laugh again! People change work.

Preventive: former victims are mainly representative of the perpetrators, unattended to’ victimization leads to offender. They need to heal.

Conclusion&further discussion Staff number, commitment, and responsibility

versus the broad role- no accountability to victims

Contradictions between legal responsibility and moral responsibility

the way staff interpret their role determines who qualifies for support; that is the innocent, vulnerable, oppressed, at risk, depressed, weak; helpless and thus calling for interventions like facilitation, empowerment etc but some groups are discriminated in the process

Crime victim support is very useful and needed so long as the staffs are more aware of what they do; how they do it; for whom; and why they do it.

Further research: it is useful to get the perspective of the users/clients- about this support. Thus revisit its mobilization , efficiency and effectiveness.

Find more: http://www.boj.se/

References Dalrymple, J. and Burke, B., 2008.Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Care and the Law.2nd

ed. Open University Press. Payne, M., 1997. Modern Social Work Theory. 2nd ed Palgrave Trevithick, P., 2009.Social Work Skills: a practice handbook. 2nd ed. Open University

Press.

Kullberg, C.& Fäldt, J., 2011. Balancing on the continuum between perpetrator and victim: Social workers understandings of men as victims of violence, [online]Available at http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-5834 [Accessed10 November 2011]

  Ljungwald,C.,(2011). The Emergency of The Crime Victim In The Swedish Social

Services Act. Stockholm Studies in Social Work.   Sakamoto, Izumi/Pitner, Ronald (2005). “Use of Critical Consciousness in Anti-

Oppressive Social Practice: Disentangling Power Dynamics at Personal and Structural Levels” in British Journal of Social Work 35 (4). Pp 435-452.

Svensson,K., 2007., Victim Support in a Changing welfare state. Lund University, School of Social work. Social work and Society :Vol 5. Issue 2 pp 123-132[Accessed 04 November 2011].

For more information about the paper:mwenyangoh@gmail.com

prevent further crime by taking good care of victims.

Questions