In the service of justice
| Author | Peter Lindström,Veronica Ekström |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758016651946 |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
In the service of justice: Will
social support to victims of
domestic violence increase
prosecution?
Veronica Ekstro
¨m
Ersta Sko
¨ndal University College, Sweden
Peter Lindstro
¨m
Malmo
¨University College, Sweden
Abstract
To hold perpetrators of domestic violence accountable and punish them for their offences has
been an important goal in the political rhetoric concerning domestic violence in Sweden. Through
new legislation, media campaigns and collaboration projects between the police and the social
services, women who have been victims of domestic violence have been urged to report to the
police and remain in the criminal investigation process. The purpose of this study is to examine
whether social support given at police stations will result in more prosecutions. The study is based
on data collected from police investigations and analysed by a multivariate regression method. The
results show that strong evidence for prosecution, such as the presence of witnesses and docu-
mented injuries, and also the offender’s position on the allegations and whether or not the woman
hesitates to participate in the criminal investigation, are the most important factors for a decision
to prosecute. Support to the victim from the social services also increases the probability of
prosecution, but the impact is smaller and uncertain. It is concluded that this form of support
should not be based on the requirement that the woman has made a police report, but rather be
given to all victims of domestic violence.
Keywords
domestic violence, Relationship Violence Centre, support, social services, prosecution
Corresponding author:
Veronica Ekstro
¨m, Department of Social Work, Ersta Sko
¨ndal University College, PO Box 221, S-128 06 Sko
¨ndal, Sweden.
Email: veronica.ekstrom@esh.se
International Review of Victimology
2016, Vol. 22(3) 257–267
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758016651946
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