Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

A Focus on Victims of Crimein Social Work: Why and forWhom?Carina LjungvaldIntroduction‘Do not focus on the painting, but on who bought the paint, who paintedand who put up the piece of cloth’.These words, spoken by Beverley Skeggs during one of herStockholm seminars, will provide the starting point for this paper.They serve as an excellent metaphor for my doctoral thesis. I amexamining a legal reform from 2001, when a separate sectionconcerning victims of crime was introduced in the SwedishSocial Services Act (SoL) (SFS 2001:453 SoL). Using Skeggs’metaphor, one could say that I initially focused on the painting,which in this case is the particular section in the Act. The firstpaper for my thesis describes the Swedish welfare statute and itsapplication to victims of crime (Ljungwald & Hollander 2007).The study shows that the reform was adopted mainly to clarifythe responsibility of the social services, especially since theypreviously had not been involved in matters concerning victimsof crime (Govt. Bill 2000/01:79).From a legal perspective, it is important to clarify the law´stangible content. If I wish to examine why this reform wasenacted, however, then this is not enough. Beverley Skeggshas influenced me to see that the main focus cannot be onthe ‘painting’ since it does not provide either the history orthe context. Incorporating a victim of crime perspective, asdescribed in section 5:11 of the Social Services Act, does presentan ideological perspective. Law reflects conflicts between29