Background: Non-fatal strangulation (NFS) is a life-threatening event in cases of sexual assault. The incidence of NFS during sexual assault is increasing on a global scale. NFS is a gendered crime as most victims are women and most assailants are men and is more common in intimate partner violence. Strangulation victims only have visible neck injuries around 50% of the time, but visible injuries are not a reliable indicator of the severity of the assault. NFS can cause neurological damage from lack of blood flow to the brain and result in physical and psychological trauma. NFS indicates a high degree of lethality in cases of sexual assault and victims of NFS are more likely to become homicide victims in the future. Methods: Information was gathered through a retrospective chart review of sexual assault medical forensic examination forms in a Mountain West state from 2019-2022. Descriptive statistical and Chi-square analyses were conducted. Interrater reliability (Cohen's Kappa) was calculated. Results: This retrospective, exploratory study of 2,077 sexual assault cases found the following variables statistically significant in NFS cases (~27.01% of total cases): age; gender; prior history of sexual assault; established suspect relationship; pain reports post assault; victim hit by assailant; victim reports of breathing changes; increased number of penetrative acts; and anogenital and non-anogenital injuries. Conclusion: NFS in SA are overall more violent assaults. Increased awareness and understanding of NFS during sexual assault will lead to improved medical management, nursing care, and services for victims experiencing NFS.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of domestic violence. At present, we speak about domestic violence more often, however, education is always a significant benefit, because stereotypical assumptions still remain in our society. They are often one of the obstacles which result in the impossibility to eliminate this socially pathological phenomenon. In the theoretical part of the thesis I describe the current status, forms, signs, progress, and the most common myths and prejudices of the public on the issue of domestic violence. In conclusion of the theoretical part I focus on prevention of socially pathological phenomena, and helping the victims. For this diploma work were established the following three hypotheses: H1: "Students at University of South Bohemia perceive the aggressor as the initiator of domestic violence." H2: "Students at University of South Bohemia perceive the aggressor as an uneducated person." H3: "Students at University of South Bohemia are convinced that domestic violence is more frequent with another ethnicity." In the empirical part I characterize the selected group. The research involved a total of 512 students. They include 450 women and 62 men. They were the students of Bachelor's and Master's study programmes of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at University of South Bohemia, in full-time and extramural form of study, and different age categories. The research was lead by the method of quantitative research, using a questionnaire survey with the semantic differential. Students had the opportunity to write down their positive or negative view of the victim and the offender or to remain impartial. The aim of the thesis was to find out the opinions and attitudes of students attending Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at University of South Bohemia to the victim and perpetrators of domestic violence. Most commonly, the students perceive the victim as a submissive, introverted, timid woman, who is not satisfied with this situation. They perceive the perpetrator as a dominant individual, who tends to jealousy. The stated hypothesis H1 has been confirmed. Hypotheses H2 and H3 have not been confirmed, and as a result, the alternative hypotheses have been accepted.

Crime is a complex social problem which has a diverse range of socioeconomic and legal consequences. Its effects upon victims are equally wide-ranging. In the cases of both violent and non-violent crimes, the effects and consequences for victims can assume any of a great many different forms. Dinisman and Moroz (2017) confirm that the effects can be deleterious in respects such as the physical health, emotional well-being, financial security, and prospects for employment or higher education. In addition, the intensity of the effects upon victims is influenced by many different factors. Evidence suggests that the nature of crimes which are committed and their seriousness do not in themselves account solely for differences in the severity of the effects which victims experience (Dinisman & Moroz, 2017). In the past, many organisations, including government departments, have been concerned mainly with rendering services to victims of child abuse and domestic violence, often at the expense of victims of serious crimes such as murder, rape, car hijacking, armed robbery and assault. A qualitative study was conducted, in order to obtain an understanding from both providers of victim empowerment services and victims of violent crimes of the services which are provided to victims. A significant amount of data was collected in the form of suggestions from both groups of participants for improving the effectiveness of existing VE services and diversifying them to make the rendering of services a more holistic endeavour than it is at present. The study was conducted in the provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng, the Western Cape, and the Northern Cape and the data was collected from semi-structured face-to face interviews and focus group discussions. The findings revealed that there were no standardised guidelines for rendering VE services to victims of different categories of crimes and the suggestions of the participants underscored the need for the development of appropriate referral protocols as a component of the guidelines for practice which were to be developed from the findings of the study. Some of the victims who participated in the study maintained that although some of their basic needs were being met in the shelters in which they were housed, in some instances counselling and therapeutic services were not available. Victims who were accommodated in shelters with their children expressed concerns with respect to a lack of educational programmes and facilities for the children. Many also expressed the belief that programmes which enabled them to develop skills to become financially self-sufficient upon leaving shelters were crucial to both their rehabilitation and empowerment. From the findings of this study, it was evident that guidelines for practice needed to be developed in accordance with the types of crimes which are committed against victims. From a careful analysis of the suggestions and recommendations of the participants, the researcher developed guidelines for practice for designing and implementing victim empowerment programmes in accordance with the objectives of providers of VE services and the needs of victims. The guidelines take the form of information pertaining to relevant programmes and services, appropriate referral protocols, and monitoring and evaluation framework templates to enable providers of VE services to assess their performance in relation to whether their services fulfil their mandates and whether the victims to whom they are rendered consider them to be sufficiently effective and appropriate. The guidelines are also intended to reduce inappropriate variations in the rendering of VE services and to stipulate standardised practices. The guidelines were circulated to members of the Victim Empowerment Management Forum who are also providers of VE services, for their comments and suggestions, which have subsequently been incorporated into the final draft of the guidelines for practice. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)

Syftet med studien var att studera hur nyhetsrapporterande media framställer och konstruerar offer- och gärningsmannaskap i fallet Lisa Holm. Det insamlade materialet utgjordes av artiklar tillhörande två av Sveriges ledande nyhetsmedier. En kritisk diskursanalys användes genom Faircloughs tredimensionella modell för att analysera texten, den diskursiva praktiken samt den sociala praktiken. Resultatet analyserades sedan med hjälp av Christies teori om det ideala offret. Resultatet och de slutsatser som drogs visade starka indikatorer på att Lisa Holm kan erkännas en legitim offerroll och är att anse som ett idealt offer, samt att Nerijus Bilevicius till viss del innehar, enligt teorins ramverk, ett idealt gärningsmannaskap. Familj och anhöriga bar dessutom inverkan på förstärkningen av de konstruerade rollerna, främst avseende Lisa Holms offerskap. Resultatet stämmer väl överens med tidigare forskning avseende att artiklarna reproducerar diskurser om offerskap, stereotypa gärningsmän samt om gärningsmän med annan etnisk härkomst. / The aim and purpose of this study was to investigate how the newspapers portrays and constructs the victims and offenders in the case of Lisa Holm. The collected material came from articles gathered from two of Sweden’s leading newspapers. A critical discourse analysis was used through Faircloughs three-dimensional model to analyse text, discourse practice and social practice. Then the results were analysed with help of Christies theory of the ideal victim. The results and conclusions drawn showed strong indicators that Lisa Holm can be recognized as an ideal victim and that Nerijus Bilevicius to a certain degree possesses, according to the theory's framework, an ideal offender.The family and relatives, in addition, have influence over the strengtheningof the constructed roles, most importantly regarding Lisa Holm’s role as a ideal victim. The results are in line with previous research, which shows that the articles reproduce discourses about victimhood, stereotypical offenders and offenders with different ethnic backgrounds.

Syftet med studien var att studera hur nyhetsrapporterande media framställer och konstruerar offerskap och gärningsmannaskap i fallet Lisa Holm. Det insamlade materialet utgjordes av artiklar tillhörande två av Sveriges ledande nyhetsmedier. En kritisk diskursanalys användes genom Faircloughs tredimensionella modell för att analysera texten, den diskursiva praktiken samt den sociala praktiken. Resultatet analyserades sedan med hjälp av Nils Christies teori om det ideala offret. Resultatet och slutsatser som drogs visade starka indikatorer på att Lisa Holm kan erkännas en legitim offerroll och är att anse som ett idealt offer, samt att Nerijus Bilevicius till viss del innehar, enligt teorins ramverk, ett idealt gärningsmannaskap. Familj och anhöriga bar dessutom inverkan på förstärkningen av de konstruerade rollerna, främst avseende Lisa Holms offerskap. Resultaten stämmer väl överens med tidigare forskning, med avseende på att artiklarna reproducerar diskurser om offerskap, stereotypa gärningsmän samt om gärningsmän med annan etnisk härkomst. / The aim and purpose of the study was to investigate how the newspapers portrays and constructs the victims and offenders in the case of Lisa Holm. The collected material came from articles gathered from two of Sweden’s leading newspapers. A critical discourse analysis was used through Faircloughs three-dimensional model to analyse text, discourse practice and social practice. The results were analysed with help of Nils Christie's theory of the ideal victim. The results and conclusions drawn showed strong indicators that Lisa Holm can be recognized as an ideal victim and that Nerijus Bilevicius to a certain degree possesses, according to the theory's framework, an ideal offender. The family and relatives, in addition, have influence over the strengthening of the constructed roles, most importantly regarding Lisa Holm’s role as an ideal victim. The results are in line with previous research, which shows that the articles reproduce discourses about victimhood, stereotypical offenders and offenders with different ethnic backgrounds.

Medias roll i samhället är stor och den spelar en viktig roll i hur samhället ska kunna få ny information om vad som sker runt om i världen. Kvällstidningar rapporterar dagligen om politiska, kulturella och även brottsliga händelser som sker och nyheterna når tusentals människor som får ta del av det. Detta gör att media har ett stort ansvar på sina axlar med att utge opartiska, neutrala och informativa artiklar om det som ämnas att läsas. I denna studie undersöktes hur media framställer olika offer, baserat på den utsattes livssituation, plats för brottet samt vilket sorts brott de utsatts för. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en tematisk analys, där tre kända fall i Sverige valdes ut för att sedan jämföra och analysera hur media framställer de brottsutsatta. Resultaten påvisar att media har en tendens att framställa brottsutsatta på olika sätt baserat på bland annat deras livssituation och deras bakgrund. Vidare visade det även att medias rapportering av brottsoffer kan vara mer omfattande beroende på hur väl en brottshändelse kan få andra människor att identifiera sig med den brottsutsatta och deras familj. / Media plays a big role in society and is partially responsible for how people in the society receives information about what is happening around the world. Newspapers are daily reporting about political, cultural and even criminal, events that occur, and the news is reached by thousands of people to read. This means that media has a lot of responsibility on their shoulders by giving out impartial, neutral and informative articles for people to read. In this study, we sought to investigate how media presents different types of victims, based on their life situation, the scene of the crime and also what type of crime they were victims of. The study was performed with a thematic analysis, where three known cases in Sweden was chosen, these were then compared and analysed in how they were presented in the media. The results of the study show that media have a tendency to present victims of crime different, depending on their life situation and their background. Furthermore, it showed that media's coverage on victims of crime can be more extensive, depending on how well a crime can make other people identify with the victim and its family.

Sexual assault advocacy services are intended to support and empower victims during the aftermath of an assault. This study's purpose was to identify sexual assault victims' use and satisfaction with victim advocacy services, and to compare those outcomes in first-time victims and victims of multiple sexual assaults. The goal was to determine if victims of multiple sexual assaults would seek services again due to satisfaction after receiving prior sexual assault advocacy services. Guided by empowerment theory, this study purported that victim satisfaction and seeking additional services would promote coping and empowerment for the victims and result in positive social change. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research with inclusion criteria of female, sexual assault victim, age 18 years or older, and being African American or Caucasian. The number of previous sexual assaults, use and satisfaction with victim advocacy services, and participant demographics were analyzed using inferential tests. A Chi-square test of independence examined the relation between victims of multiple sexual assaults and their use of victim advocacy services during the most recent assault, and revealed that victims of multiple sexual assaults were more likely to seek medical services during the most recent assault than they were to seek legal or sexual assault crisis center services. This finding suggests areas of improvement for victim advocacy services, specifically in improving the dissemination and collaboration of services among the medical, legal, and sexual assault crisis center communities. The findings from this study may help to evolve victim advocacy services, thereby increasing sexual assault victims' satisfaction with and use of services.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur offer och förövare beskrivs och framställs av programledarna för ett urval av svenska true crime-podcasts, utifrån teorin om ideala offer samt genusteori. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av tematisk karaktär genomfördes på olika avsnitt av poddarna “Spöktimmen” och “Mord Mot Mord”, i vilka fyra teman kunde urskiljas; ”oskyldiga offer”, ”starka offer”, ”galna förövare” samt ”osannolika förövare”. Resultatet visade att sättet som offer och förövare framställdes i poddarna till stor del överensstämde med stereotypa föreställningar av offer och förövare samt män och kvinnor, men att dessa stereotyper i vissa fall också utmanades. Vidare framställdes kvinnliga och manliga offer respektive förövare på ett sätt som bekräftade tidigare forskning. Vår slutsats var att stereotypa föreställningar om offer och förövare samt män och kvinnor var vanligt förekommande i våra valda podcast-avsnitt, men att kontext spelade en avgörande roll för hur offren och förövarna framställdes av programledarna. / The purpose of this study was to examine how victims and offenders are portrayed by the hosts of Swedish true crime podcasts. Through a thematic analysis of different episodes of the podcasts "Spöktimmen" and "Mord Mot Mord", and by applying Christie’s theory of the ideal victim as well as a gender theoretical perspective, four themes could be identified; "innocent victims", "strong victims", "mad offenders", and "unlikely offenders". The result showed that the way they were portrayed largely corresponded to stereotypical representations of both victims and offenders as well as men and women, but that these stereotypes in some instances were challenged. Furthermore, female and male victims and offenders were portrayed in a way that confirmed previous research. Our conclusion was that stereotypical representations were common in our chosen podcast episodes, but that context played a central role in the way the victims and offenders were portrayed by the podcast hosts.

Studiens syfte var att utifrån Nils Christies teori om det ideala offret, i kombination med ettgenusteoretiskt perspektiv analysera hur offer och gärningspersoner framställdes i TV-serien I Am a Killer. Den valda analysmetoden var tematisk analys. Studien visade att Christies idealtyper inte var vanligt förekommande, och att Christies icke-idealtyper var dominerande. Vidare visade studien att offer såväl som förövare inte framställdes olika utifrån deras könstillhörighet. Slutsatserna som gjordes var att Christies teori om idealtyper inte gick att applicera fullt ut på riktiga människor. I stället visade sig termen rollblandning vara mer tillämplig på verkliga människor och fall. Vidare var stereotypa idéer och föreställningar om män respektive kvinnor till viss del förekommande i materialet. Tidigare forskning gällande framställningen av kvinnliga offer och gärningspersoner samt manliga offer och gärningspersoner bekräftades till viss del men inte fullt ut. / The purpose of the study was to analyze how victims and offenders were portrayed in the Netflix series I Am a Killer, through Nils Christie’s theory of the ideal victim in combination with a gender theoretical perspective. The chosen method of analysis was a thematic content analysis. The study showed that Christie’s ideal types were not common and that non-ideal victims and offenders dominated. Furthermore, the study did not show that victims and offenders were portrayed differently based on their gender. The conclusions made were that Christie’s ideal types were not applicable in the realm of reality, the roles ”victim” and” offender” were generally intertwined which made the term victim-offender overlap more useful and accurate. Furthermore, stereotypical ideas regarding men and women were somewhat present in the material. To a certain extent that confirmed previous research regarding the portrayal of gender in media as well as in victimization and perpetratorship.

This research focused on the personal experiences of both male and female victims of violent crimes. The aim of this research was to explore how indigenous Black South Africans understand and deal with victimisation. An African epistemology was used to help gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of the participants. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling strategy. Five participants were selected for this study. Data was collected using individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Based on the transcribed data, themes were extracted and analysed using content analysis. The results indicate that participants attributed varying meanings to their victimisation. / Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)