Small municipalities are worse at supporting crime victims – and some municipalities offer no help at all. This is shown by a new investigation from the Crime Victims’ Authority.
Anders Alenskär, director general at the Norwegian Crime Agency, believes that it can be questioned whether the crime victim support today meets the requirements of the legislation.
– Among other things, only just over half of Sweden’s municipalities offer targeted support to all crime victims. There is also a lack of coordination between various crime victim support actors, he says.
They are given responsibility for crime victim work
In order to strengthen the coordination of crime victim work, the authority is now putting forward a proposal to divide it into three actors. The Office for Victims of Crime receives the national responsibility, while the county administrations are responsible for the regional work and the municipalities for the local coordination.
– Here the municipalities have a lot of work to step up and take the responsibility they already have today according to law. We want to strengthen this responsibility and really push that the municipalities also have overall coordination responsibility, says Anders Alenskär and continues:
– You can then not only look after your own business but also the needs of the crime victim.
Different target groups receive different support
The support you receive as a crime victim is affected by which municipality you live in and which target group you belong to.
– In the Social Services Act, certain groups are now singled out to receive help. The legislation focuses primarily on children and women who have suffered violence in a close relationship, here the municipalities have an important job to help all target groups.
SVT Uppsala has previously reported on criticism of Uppsala municipality’s coordination and handling of crime victims in connection with the death of 24-year-old Soha Saad in an explosion last fall.