Supporting young crime victims: discursive environments and formula narratives

Löfstrand, Cecilia Hansen

doi:10.1080/13676260903081632

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Göteborg University's Sociology Department has produced a substantial amount of research in two main areas, economic crime (for example , Engdahl 2008;Larsson, 2003;Lindgren, 2002) and police-related research (Björk, 2005;Peterson, 2010;Wahlström, 2011), although studies have also focused on homelessness (Sahlin, 2004), violent crime, and crime victims and victim support (Hansen Löfstrand, 2009). Research in Göteborg is dominated by qualitative studies.…”

Section: Criminological Research In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime and criminology in Sweden

Llanes-Estrada¹,

Pettersson

Shannon³

2012

European Journal of Criminology

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Background Sweden is a sparsely populated country of 9 million people, geographically located on the margins of the European Union (EU). Approximately one-third of the population lives in the three metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, and around 14 percent of Sweden's population are born overseas. Sweden is often described, together with Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, as a welfare country characterized by low levels of income inequality (Lappi-Seppälä and Tonry, 2011). Prior to an election defeat in 1976, the Social Democrats had been in government since 1933, and Sweden had constructed what has been referred to as a welfare state par excellence (Tham, 1995). Although the Social Democrats quickly regained power, and governed until 2006 (with the exception of the period 1991-4), the Swedish political climate was influenced from the 1980s onwards by the international shift towards neoliberal ideas. The Social Democrats introduced changes to welfare policy, including, notably, gradually deregulating the economy. Today Sweden has a centre-right coalition government led by the conservative New Moderates. The consistent postwar 'party of government', the Social Democrats, is facing a serious challenge in the area of agenda-setting, and Sweden has become less different from the rest of Western Europe. Criminologists have also often described the Scandinavian countries as distinct from the rest of Europe, being characterized by low prison populations, knowledge-based crime policy and an absence of punitivity in the public debate (Lappi-Seppälä and Tonry, 2011). In his description of '"Scandinavian exceptionalism" in an era of penal excess', however, Pratt (2008) sees dark clouds on the Swedish horizon. In the early 1990s, Sweden suffered an economic crisis that tripled the unemployment rate (from around 3 to 9 percent) and produced major welfare policy cutbacks. Effects on living conditions

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Section: Criminological Research In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime and criminology in Sweden

Llanes-Estrada¹,

Pettersson

Shannon³

2012

European Journal of Criminology

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“…Men in general have also been found to be less likely than women to seek help from professionals for different kinds of personal problems such as physical and psychosocial problems (Addis and Mahalik 2003) and are also often characterized in this way by others. Professional helpers also envisage young men who have been subjected to physical violence as not interested in talking about it and being difficult to reach emotionally (Burcar 2005 Hansen Löfstrand 2008Löfstrand , 2009Ryding 2005). Research also shows that men who show signs of being in a stressful situation, such as signs of being traumatised, are at risk of being evaluated more negatively and considered to have more severe problems than women with the same symptoms (O'Neil, Good and Holmes 1995;Robertson and Fitzgerald 1990;Seem and Johnson 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The significance of position for Swedish social workers’ understanding of young men’s victimization of violence

Kullberg

Skillmark

2016

Nordic Social Work Research

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Violence against women and men is a widespread and serious social problem, often with severe consequences for the victims. Even though young men are among those most at risk of exposure to physical violence, men's victimization is only recognized to a limited extent. The aim of this study is to deepen our understanding of how social workers' interpretation of the position of males in the gender order affects their understanding of male victimization. The study was designed as a multiple case study with a qualitative comparative approach. Focus group interviews supported by vignettes were used to collect data. Interviews were carried out with professional Swedish social workers working with victimized men and women at centres for young crime victims in Sweden. The results show that even though the social workers express traditional gender beliefs about young men's experiences of victimization and their inability to identify themselves as victims of violence, they also to some extent resist taken-forgranted notions of male victimization. The results also show that the social workers to some extent offer supportive measures that reinforce traditional expectations of masculinity. On the basis of the results it is suggested that one important way of developing social work with young male victims of violence would be to give greater attention to variations between different men and masculinities and how these different forms of masculinity are differently connected to crime and violence, and to adapt supportive measures to reflect these differences.

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“…Additionally, previous research has shown how victims of different types of crimes themselves understand their victimization and construct a victim narrative (cf. Åkerström et al, 2011; Burcar, 2005; Burcar and Åkerström, 2009; Fohring, 2018; Jägervi, 2014, 2016; Löfstrand, 2009a, 2009b). However, young people’s narrative constructions of victimhood, in relation to their need for community support, have not yet been explored in detail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young victims’ positioning: Narrations of victimhood and support

Bruck

2019

International Review of Victimology

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The present study aims to analyze how young people narratively negotiate their position as victims, how their social surroundings react to their victim positioning and what types of support they are offered. It is argued that those who position themselves as innocent victims receive support, while those who do not position themselves as such are left to fend for themselves. It is concluded that receiving support functions as a way for young victims to keep intact their narratives of who they are; while young people who did not receive support and acceptance for their positioning needed to re-negotiate their narrative to make sense of who they are after the victimization. Thereby, the victimizing event was incorporated into their narrative identity.

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Supporting young crime victims: discursive environments and formula narratives

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Crime and criminology in Sweden

Crime and criminology in Sweden

The significance of position for Swedish social workers’ understanding of young men’s victimization of violence

Young victims’ positioning: Narrations of victimhood and support

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