Förståelse, bedömningar och hjälpinsatser : Socialarbetares arbete med män som våldsoffer

This report outlines the background to, and presents the results from the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority funded project "Social Workers' understanding of men as victims of crime". The project aimed at describing and analyzing how social workers understand and work with male victims of violence. More precisely, the research has focused on how social workers describe men's vulnerability and how they understand men's needs for assistance, what assistance that is provided and the way the constellations of perpetrators and victims of different gender and contexts in which the violence occurs in affect the understanding of male victims of violence. The study has also been devoted to the question of whether the Support Centers for young crime victims in Sweden provide different types of and different amount of help to young men and women afflicted of violence. The project was conducted in three substudies. The results from substudy 1 show that more young men than women seek support from the Support centers studied. Men predominate in number of cases and in the different categories of crime. The results also show that young men on average receive less assistance over a shorter average duration than young women. This applies irrespective of the category of offense that the vulnerability applies to. Furthermore, the young men, compared to the women, proportionally receive fewer interventions characterized as support and a greater proportion of interventions in the form of information. The results also show that the young men are referred on for further action to a lesser extent than is the case for women. The results from substudy 2 show that social workers tend to focus on whether, and to what extent, young men who are victims of violence themselves have behaved provocatively before the violence incident and if they have put themselves in a social situation that could be interpreted as having contributed to an escalation of the violence they have been subjected to. The results from substudy 2 also show that social workers talk about the men as active in the violent situations they have been involved in and dwell on the extent to which the young men's own actions have contributed to the violence. The results also show that young men who are victims of violence are described as "reluctant" victims who are trying to cope with their situation on their own without the involvement of professional or other helper. The young men are also described as reluctant to talk about their feelings. The results of substudy 3 show that social workers believe that young men, when they become victims of violence, risks losing their sense of autonomy, initiative and decisiveness, that is, attributes that are often linked to the dominating cultural image of masculinity. Furthermore, the results show that social workers estimate that men's practicing of their masculinity, but also the response that men who are traumatized get from society, creates difficulties for them to get help. The results from substudy 3 also shows that attributes and actions that can be connected to the masculinity of young men's, as well as a lack of such attributes and actions are considered to be adequate explanations for the violence the men has suffered. When it comes to violence in public places it is the masculinity that explains the violence and its escalation. When it comes to domestic violence it is the lack of expected male attributes and actions that are used as explanations for the violence that have occurred. The discussion is devoted to the question of how the results should be understood based on the concepts of self-performance, interpretation, negotiation and categorizations, and the consequences the results obtained should have for gender sensitive social work given to abused men.

Förlåtelse, försoning och oförsonlighet i överlevandes berättelser efter kriget i Bosnien

Forgiveness, reconciliation and implacability in narratives of survivors after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina In this article I analyze verbally portrayed experiences of 27 survivors from the 1990s’ war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One aim of the article is to analyze markers for reconciliation and implacability, the second is to describe the terms for reconciliation which are actualized in those stories. The interactive dynamics, which occurred during the war, make the post-war reconciliation wartime associated. Narratives about reconciliation, implacability and terms for reconciliation, are not only formed in relation to the war as a whole but also in relation to one’s own and others’ wartime actions. The narratives about reconciliation become an arena in which we and them are played against each other in different ways – not least by rejecting the others’ acts during the war. In the interviewees stories implacability is predominant but reconciliation is presented as a possibility if certain conditions are met. These conditions are, for instance, justice for war victims, perpetrators’ recognition of crime and perpetrators’ emotional commitment (for example the display of remorse and shame).

Gruvrätten vid Stora Kopparberget 1641-1682 : en undersökning över rannsakade brott och utdömda straff

The purpose of this essay is to examine and explain how the Swedish mining court of Stora Kopparberget (the Great Copper Mountain) implemented its judicial legislation between 1641-1682. Questions are asked about which counts of indictments the court tried, which sentences they handed out, in what quantities and how these results looks in comparison with other contemporary courts. The index cards of the court judicial protocols are the primary source of information. The methods are those of quantity- and comparative analysis.The results show that theft of copper ore was the most common crime ransacked by the court. Other common crimes were (in order): sin of omission, transgression of work directions, fights, slander and disdain, trade of stolen ore, failing appearance in court etc.Fines were by far the most common sentence followed by shorter imprisonments, gauntlets, loss of right to mine possession, twig beating, loss of work, penal servitude, banishment, “wooden horse riding” and finally military transcription. Even though previous re-search, in the field of Swedish specialized courts, is almost non existent evidence confirms great similarities between the Stora Kopparberget mining court and Sala mining court. This essay will, hopefully, enrich our knowledge of specialized courts, of 17th century mining industry and society and let us reach a broader understanding of the working conditions of the mountain.

Kriminalitetens geografi : vardagsbrottslighetens spatiala fördelning i Borlänge

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze the geographical distribution of everyday criminality in the town of Borlänge during the year 2002 and to analyze which measures to be taken in the physical social planning to decrease this everyday criminality there. The term everyday criminality is here to be understood as those categories of crime that appear most frequently in the records of reports to the police every year. Here two kinds of crime have been in focus, thefts from cars and office burglary.In fulfilling this aim two main questions have been answered. The first one is how the everyday criminality was distributed geographically in the town of Borlänge during the year 2002. The second one is which measures to be taken in the physical social planning to decrease this everyday criminality in the town of Borlänge.In order to answer the first question a spatial autocorrelation analysis, Local Moran LISA has been used. This method is based on the measurement Moran´s I and shows the spatial autocorrelation for every single location. To answer the second question three different theories of crime prevention through environmental design have been studied and applied in the analysis. These are Jane Jacobs’ ideas about ”the living city”, Oscar Newman´s ideas about ”defensible space” and Ronald V. Clarke´s theories about crime prevention.The major conclusions that can be drawn from this thesis are that the risk of being exposed to thefts from cars, during the analyzed time period, was highest in Centrum and Hagalund and their surroundings. The lowest risk of being exposed to this type of crime was found in Domnarvet and Islingby, during the year 2002. The highest risk of being a victim of the crime office burglary was found in Hagalund and its surroundings and in the single area of Kvarnsveden. The corresponding lowest risk was found in Lergärdet and its surroundings and in Norra Backa and Kupolen. The measures that should be taken in order to decrease these types of criminality can be divided into overall changes and place-specific changes. When it comes to the crime thefts from cars a more attractive central business district, a better view of parking lots from nearby buildings, dividing of larger parking lot zones into smaller ones, migration of hidden parking lots and stronger access control to parking lots where problems with this kind of crime have occurred have been suggested as overall changes. The corresponding place-specific changes are to remove vegetation that is blocking the view, better lighting and to put up signs with information about increased risk of exposure to crime at parking lots with the most problems. To decrease the amount of office burglaries overall changes as to create a better view of the area from nearby surroundings, move bigger office compartments or divide them into smaller units, rebuild characteristic buildings and increase security by strengthening the access control to offices with these kinds of problems could be useful. Finally there are possibilities to decrease office burglary by using place-specific measures as surveillance cameras combined with signs containing information about these, high fences and better lighting around the buildings where a higher risk of being exposed to this kind of criminality is present.

Vem är den ekonomiske brottslingen? : En jämförelse mellan länder och brottstyper

Who is the economic criminal? A comparison between countries and types of crime In white collar crime research two particularly competing definitions (Sutherland versus the Revisionists) have dominated the field during the last two decades. Sutherland’s definition states that the sociodemographic profile is homogeneous (entrepreneur with high education and high or regular income), despite type of white collar crime or context. The definition given by the Revisionists states that white collar criminals’ demographic profile is heterogeneous (everyone can be convicted for white collar crime). As a consequence of this divided definitional approach we have a contradictive outcome of who the white collar criminal is. Our purpose is to investigate the qualification of the two definitions by analyzing heterogeneity/ homogeneity based on crime type and national context. The investigation is based on seven countries from the EES 2004 (European Social Survey). We use four types of crime. The results show a rather homogeneous demographic profile but there is also a certain substantial heterogeneity depending on kinds of crime and context. The results altogether indicate that the Revisionists’ definition is more correct in its description of the white collar criminal than Sutherland’s definition. The demographic profile of the white collar criminal seems to be more complex than a profile confined to just one social category would be and the contextual factor has an impact on the variety of the demographic profile. An important task for future research is to hold the door open for further demographic investigations depending on the type of crime and country that the study is based on. 

”Tacksamhet för att jag fick ett nytt liv” : En kvalitativ studie om återanpassningsstrategier efter avtjänat fängelsestraff

Intresset för kriminalitet och individerna bakom de kriminella handlingarna ökar i samhället och återges i media dagligen. Det är just individen bakom brottet, hen som fängslas och får avtjäna sitt straff som denna studie riktar sitt fokus på. När fängelsegrindarna öppnas och återinträdet till samhället blir ett faktum; Hur tar då dessa individer sig tillbaka till samhället för att åter bli en del av det? Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka återanpassningsstrategier som frigivna använder sig av samt hur samhällets bemötande påverkar strategierna. Studien baseras på självbiografier skrivna av fyra författare som alla levt ett kriminellt liv och som sedermera avtjänat ett eller flera fängelsestraff. Resultatet visar att det finns flera anpassningsstrategier som tas i bruk. Däribland att söka hjälp och stöd hos familj, vänner eller andra sociala grupper. Vidare återfinns det i strävan efter en ”ny identitet” vilket ofta sker med hjälp av tro. Att sysselsätta sig, ge något tillbaka till samhället, visa sin kreativitet i syfte att återfå sin kredibilitet kan ses som strategier som leder fram till det slutliga målet, kredibiliteten. Slutligen kunde ett samband mellan samhällets bemötande och återanpassningsstrategierna utrönas. Ju mer negativt bemötandet är desto fler återanpassningsstrategier behövs och arbetet för att uppnå dem blir mer krävande. Givet blir då att ett bemötande som fyllts av uppmuntran till individens förändring medför att färre strategier behövs och risken för återfall blir mindre.

Den svenska nedskärningsmodellen

Målet med detta examensarbete är att skapa en modell för svenska förhållanden,vilken kan användas för att minimera de negativa konsekvenserna avnedskärningar men även lyfta fram de positiva effekterna som en nedskärningmedför.Utifrån modellen Realistic Downsizing Preview (RDP) (Appelbaum & Donia,2001) har vi arbetat fram en egen modell över hur en nedskärningsprocess börutföras för att få ett så lyckat resultat som möjligt. Vi vill med vår modell främjade positiva effekterna utav nedskärningar och hur organisationen skall arbeta föratt uppnå dessa, på detta sätt bör de samtidigt kunna förebygga de negativaeffekterna.Vår studie är en kvalitativ litteraturundersökning där stort fokus har lagts påinsamlandet av artiklar och arbeten som behandlar ämnet Survivor Syndrome ochhur organisation bör arbeta med nedskärningar. Det insamlade materialet har sedananalyserats källkritiskt för att sedermera kunna bli en bidragen faktor vidskapandet av vår modell ”Den Svenska Nedskärningsmodellen”(SNM). Vi utfördetvå intervjuer, den ena var på SSAB och den andra var på NCC Construction.Detta gjordes efter modellen var klar för att kunna prova den praktiskt samt för attfå synpunkter. I vår modell kommer störst fokus att läggas på tre nyckelfaktorer,dessa är arbetet med utförarna, överlevarna och offren.Arbetet riktar sig till ledningen på större svenska organisationer som står inför ennedskärning.