Reporting honour crimes to the police

Social workers’ perspectives on benefits and costs

Resumé

Abstract
We examine how Swedish social workers and experts perceive the benefits and costs of reporting honour crimes to police. The number of actions and inactions that constitute honour crimes has increased since the law changed to include non-violent controlling behaviours. Honour crimes are collective offenses involving close victim-offender relationships. As such, they are associated with low reporting and a high dark figure. Through interviews with eleven social workers and professionals, we analyse the benefits of reporting, including accessing resources, protecting victims, deterring perpetrators, achieving justice, raising societal awareness, and building competencies among police and prosecutors. The costs of a victim involving police include the possibility of re-traumatisation, the escalation of danger from vindictive families, and damage to trust in support services. Our interviewees noted that the resource situation has improved and argued for a victim-centred response that acknowledges self-determination while recognizing the legal obligation to report crimes against minors. To increase reporting rates, there should be better coordination
between police and social services, more specialized training, and an increased prioritization of honour crimes in the justice system.

Vi undersøger, hvordan svenske socialarbejdere og eksperter opfatter fordele og omkostninger ved at anmelde æresrelaterede forbrydelser til politiet. Antallet af handlinger og undladelser, der er kriminelle, er steget, da loven nu også omfatter ikke-voldelig kontrollerende adfærd. Æresrelaterede forbrydelser er kollektive lovovertrædelser med tætte relationer mellem offer og gerningsperson, faktorer der er forbundet med lav anmeldelsestilbøjelighed og derfor et stort mørketal. Gennem interviews med elleve socialarbejdere og fagfolk analyserer vi for delene ved anmeldelse, herunder adgang til ressourcer, offerets sikkerhed,
afskrækkelse af gerningspersoner, retfærdighed, øget samfundsmæssig bevidsthed og opbygning af kompetencer hos politi og anklagere. Omkostningerne ved at mobilisere politiet består af mulig re-traumatisering af ofre, øget fare fra hævngerrige familier og mindsket tillid til socialarbejdere. Vores interviewpersoner bemærkede, at ressourcesituationen er blevet forbedret og argumenterede for en offercentreret indsats, der anerkender selvbestemmelse, samtidig med at den retlige forpligtelse til at anmelde forbrydelser mod mindreårige respekteres. For at øge anmeldelsesraten bør der være bedre koordinering mellem politi og sociale tjenester, mere specialiseret uddannelse og en overordnet prioritering af æresrelaterede forbrydelser i retssystemet.