Grasshoppers Rather Than Ants? - Ideal Victims, Just-World Belief and the Reduction of Victim Compensation in Swedish Law
(2019) JURM02 20192Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Monetary compensation to victims of crime can take different forms and be paid by different actors. The rules for calculating the compensation sometimes mandate reduction of the amount awarded for various reasons. This reduction can potentially be experienced by victims as a “secondary victimisation”. In the present work, the factors behind reduction of victim compensation in Swedish law and what they suggest about the law’s view of the victim are explored.
The author employs a variety of methodological approaches throughout the work. Established law on the reduction of damages, criminal injuries compensation and compensation under the Payment Services Act is determined through legal dogmatics. The legislative history of these rules as... (More) - Monetary compensation to victims of crime can take different forms and be paid by different actors. The rules for calculating the compensation sometimes mandate reduction of the amount awarded for various reasons. This reduction can potentially be experienced by victims as a “secondary victimisation”. In the present work, the factors behind reduction of victim compensation in Swedish law and what they suggest about the law’s view of the victim are explored.
The author employs a variety of methodological approaches throughout the work. Established law on the reduction of damages, criminal injuries compensation and compensation under the Payment Services Act is determined through legal dogmatics. The legislative history of these rules as described in the parliamentary records is uncovered via a combination of legal historic and legal genetic approaches. The author uses two partially contrasting and partially complementary theoretical models from outside the legal field to analyse and discuss the rules on compensation reduction and their history.
First of these models is Christie’s theory of the ideal victim, a classic in victimology which describes how victims exhibiting certain stereotypical characteristics match societal expectations of the victim and are thus more likely to receive support from others. The second model is Lerner’s just-world hypothesis, a socio-psychological theory which provides an explanation for why some seemingly innocent victims are met with negative societal reactions. The author finds similarities between both models and the legal rules, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, markedly larger support for Christie’s theory.
Three main factors behind victim compensation reduction in Swedish law are identified: the victim’s moral standing, their causal connection to the crime, and their financial situation. Of these, the author deems causality the most significant factor today, whereas finances has been important historically. This suggests that a lack of causal contribution to the crime is a crucial aspect of the law’s conception of the victim of crime. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Ekonomisk ersättning till brottsoffer kan ta olika former och betalas av olika aktörer. De regler som avgör ersättningens storlek föreskriver ibland jämkning eller sänkning av beloppet på diverse grunder. Denna jämkning kan av brottsoffer potentiellt upplevas som en “sekundär viktimisering”. I detta arbete kartläggs grunderna för jämkning av ersättning till brottsoffer i svensk rätt och analyseras vad de antyder om rättens inställning till brottsoffer.
Författaren använder ett antal metodologiska angreppsätt i arbetet. Gällande rätt angående jämkning av skadestånd, jämkning av brottsskadeersättning och sänkning av ersättning enligt betaltjänstlagen bestäms rättsdogmatiskt. Reglernas bakgrund som den beskrivs i riksdagstrycket undersöks... (More) - Ekonomisk ersättning till brottsoffer kan ta olika former och betalas av olika aktörer. De regler som avgör ersättningens storlek föreskriver ibland jämkning eller sänkning av beloppet på diverse grunder. Denna jämkning kan av brottsoffer potentiellt upplevas som en “sekundär viktimisering”. I detta arbete kartläggs grunderna för jämkning av ersättning till brottsoffer i svensk rätt och analyseras vad de antyder om rättens inställning till brottsoffer.
Författaren använder ett antal metodologiska angreppsätt i arbetet. Gällande rätt angående jämkning av skadestånd, jämkning av brottsskadeersättning och sänkning av ersättning enligt betaltjänstlagen bestäms rättsdogmatiskt. Reglernas bakgrund som den beskrivs i riksdagstrycket undersöks genom en kombination av rättshistoriska och rättsgenetiska metoder. Författaren tar två delvis kontrasterande och delvis kompletterande teoretiska modeller utanför rättsvetenskapen till hjälp för att analysera och diskutera reglerna om jämkning av ersättning och reglernas bakgrund.
Den första av dessa modeller är Christies teori om det ideala offret, en viktimologisk klassiker som beskriver hur offer med vissa stereotypa drag överensstämmer med samhälleliga förväntningar på offret och därmed mer sannolikt kommer att få stöd av andra. Den andra modellen är Lerners hypotes om en rättvis värld, en socialpsykologisk teori som ger en förklaring till varför vissa till synes oskyldiga offer bemöts negativt av andra. Författaren ser likheter mellan båda modellerna och rättsreglerna, men hittar, kanske som förväntat, tydligt större stöd för Christies teori.
Tre huvudsakliga faktorer bakom jämkning av ersättning till brottsoffer i svensk rätt identifieras: offrets moraliska ställning, offrets kausala samband med brottet, och offrets ekonomiska situation. Av dessa bedömer författaren kausalitet som den viktigaste faktorn idag, samtidigt som ekonomiska förhållanden haft stor betydelse historiskt. Detta tyder på att avsaknad av orsakssamband mellan brottsoffrets beteende och brottet är en avgörande del av rättens inställning till brottsoffret. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9000460
- author
- Goss, Joseph LU
- supervisor
-
- Tova Bennet LU
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20192
- year
- 2019
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- criminal law, tort law, criminal injuries compensation, ideal victim, just-world
- language
- English
- id
- 9000460
- date added to LUP
- 2020-01-31 11:33:59
- date last changed
- 2020-01-31 11:33:59
@misc{9000460,
abstract = {{Monetary compensation to victims of crime can take different forms and be paid by different actors. The rules for calculating the compensation sometimes mandate reduction of the amount awarded for various reasons. This reduction can potentially be experienced by victims as a “secondary victimisation”. In the present work, the factors behind reduction of victim compensation in Swedish law and what they suggest about the law’s view of the victim are explored.
The author employs a variety of methodological approaches throughout the work. Established law on the reduction of damages, criminal injuries compensation and compensation under the Payment Services Act is determined through legal dogmatics. The legislative history of these rules as described in the parliamentary records is uncovered via a combination of legal historic and legal genetic approaches. The author uses two partially contrasting and partially complementary theoretical models from outside the legal field to analyse and discuss the rules on compensation reduction and their history.
First of these models is Christie’s theory of the ideal victim, a classic in victimology which describes how victims exhibiting certain stereotypical characteristics match societal expectations of the victim and are thus more likely to receive support from others. The second model is Lerner’s just-world hypothesis, a socio-psychological theory which provides an explanation for why some seemingly innocent victims are met with negative societal reactions. The author finds similarities between both models and the legal rules, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, markedly larger support for Christie’s theory.
Three main factors behind victim compensation reduction in Swedish law are identified: the victim’s moral standing, their causal connection to the crime, and their financial situation. Of these, the author deems causality the most significant factor today, whereas finances has been important historically. This suggests that a lack of causal contribution to the crime is a crucial aspect of the law’s conception of the victim of crime.}},
author = {{Goss, Joseph}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Grasshoppers Rather Than Ants? - Ideal Victims, Just-World Belief and the Reduction of Victim Compensation in Swedish Law}},
year = {{2019}},
}