Violence in the family

Men’s violence affects women of all ages and from all social classes.

Marry whoever I want?
Young people who live in strictly patriarchal families, mainly girls and young women but also boys, risk having their freedoms and rights threatened.

You are mine. Till death do us part.
In Sweden women are beaten to death by their husbands. Every week. All year round.

What about the children?
What happens to the children?
Children who are forced to witness violence or other forms of abuse by or against those close to them are the victims of crime. They are subjected to violence just as much as the person who is beaten and are in need of help and support.

Violence against Women

Who does the beating? Who is beaten?

Violence against women entails all types of abuse: violence within close relationships, trafficking, sexual harassment, prostitution, female genital mutilation and honour related violence. Violence affects women from all social classes and in all age groups.
The focus on men’s violence towards women and children does not mean that violence within same-sex relationships has been ignored. The culprit can also be a woman and the victim a man.

What about the children?

Children who witness violence or other forms of abuse by or against those close to them are the victims of crime, subjected to violence just as much as the person who is beaten. They need help and support, and have the right to damages.

Marry whoever you want

Girls and young women whose rights and freedoms are threatened in strict patriarchal families have, in recent years, attracted attention within the social services. It is a fundamental human right to marry whoever you wish. Child marriage is forbidden under Swedish law.

What does the law say?

The main report from the Commission on Violence against Women, Protection of Women, SOU 1995:60, has meant that attention has been drawn to violence and abuse directed at women. Legislation has been introduced to protect women, and a series of bodies are jointly responsible for preventing violence and for protecting and aiding victimized women.

A law on the violation of women’s freedom from violence, which was enacted in the Penal Code on 1st July 1998, largely entails a tightening of legislation. The law deals with repeated abuse of a previous or current wife or partner. Violations of women’s freedom from violence that are intended to damage the person’s integrity or self-esteem can be punished by up to six years in prison. The courts should be able to look at all the criminality to which a person has been subjected and combine separate, milder offences into one serious violation of women’s freedom from violence.

In January 1999, a law was enacted that forbids the purchase of sexual services.
The Equal Opportunities Act has been tightened with regards to sexual harassment. Employers must actively prevent employees from being subjected to sexual harassment.

The Social Services Act was also tightened on 1st July 2007. This tightening means that the Social Welfare Board in particular should “take into consideration that women who are, or have been, subjected to violence or other abuse by those close to them may be in need of help and support in order to change their situation.

The Social Welfare Board should also take special notice that children who have witnessed violence or other abuse by or towards adults close to them are the victims of crime and may be in need of help and support.”

What Do We Do in Nacka?

The social services

For a woman who is subjected to violence or the threat of violence, the first step towards a better life may be to turn to the social services for help, support and information. She can also receive information on what happens when she makes a police report.

The man may also need to talk to someone. He can meet a male social welfare secretary in order to receive help and learn where he can receive continued support.

Parents who, in conjunction with or after a separation, are unable to agree regarding the children – whether this concerns custody, accommodation or access – may be offered cooperative discussions with the Family Court.

The social services work, in cooperation and collaboration with various authorities and voluntary organizations, to decrease violence against women. The social services offer help and support to women who have been subjected to violence and children who have witnessed violence, and may also offer men an opportunity to alter their behaviour.

The social services should act to ensure that those who are the victims of crime and their relatives receive help and support. The needs of women who have been subjected to violence should be specially taken in account.

Pre-schools and schools

If a mother is subjected to violence in the home this naturally affects the children. If adults have reason to believe that a child is at risk, or is forced to witness violence in the home, or that parents are deficient in caring for their child or abuse it physically or psychologically, then it is their obligation to intervene.
For staff in pre-schools/schools, this means that they should first and foremost turn to parents if they have reason to feel concern for a child. If they suspect that a child is subjected to physical or psychological abuse, or if they have reason to believe that a child is left unsupervised, they should make a report to the social services.

At each school there should be a functioning pupil welfare team. Within the pupil welfare team there should be a pupil welfare plan, in other words a joint plan that specifies how to work, when to enlist external help etc.

The Culture and Education Unit works with the funding, objectives, follow-ups and evaluation of municipal and private pre-schools and schools etc.

Support & Health

Support & Health is an organization with inter-professional competence that consists of doctors, nurses, psychologists, welfare officers, and teachers with various types of spearhead competence. Support & Health works for a positive all-inclusive approach, based on psychological, physical, and social wellbeing, in collaboration with responsible leadership and staff in pre-schools and schools.
The objective of the organization is to be able to, through a heightened attention level, discover violence at an early stage and play a part in preventing further violence, and also to provide adequate support to the families affected. Personnel cooperate internally, between and within existing professions in Support & Health, and externally with clients, in other words those pre-schools/schools affected. The structure of the organization offers extensive possibilities for collaboration.

When violence is suspected, Support & Health collaborates in various ways, for example through consultation, discussion, applications or reports. Contacts, to a varying degree, are made with affected pre-school/school administrations, custodians, and pupils as well as, in some cases, with the social services, the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Centre, the Unit for Social Support Resources, the police, the Association for Victim Support, the Women’s Shelter and the prosecution authority.

The Reception Centre for Men

The Reception Centre for Men is for men in Nacka who have threatened or inflicted violence within close relationships.

The man may have problems with anger. He may have used violence during quarrels. He may feel that he has difficulties in his relationship with his partner and/or the children. He may have conflicts during a separation. Violence may be a way for him to try to resolve a situation that he cannot resolve in any other way.
Changing violent behaviour can be difficult. He may require help in finding alternative courses of action than using threats or violence or other destructive behaviour.

Discussing the events the man has experienced and the feelings he has may be a way for him to move on. The purpose of the discussions is that he should discover other means than violence of resolving conflict situations in his relationships.

Men who live in the Municipality of Nacka can contact the reception centre for men themselves.

Women who live with a man who threatens them or uses violence may contact the reception centre for men for advice. The reception centre for men can contact the man if she so wishes. The social services, police etc can also contact the reception centre for men.

The Health Service

The Health Service should be aware of the life situation of women who have been subjected to violence. In some cases women live under protected identities and/or in sheltered housing in other towns and should be offered the possibility of health care in the towns where they live, as, for security reasons, it is not possible for them to visit their own health centres.

The health service should know about the forms which violence against women can take and what this entails, directly or indirectly, for their health.
The health service should photograph the patient’s injuries and make a report to the social emergency service if there are children in the frame. They will arrange for contact with a welfare officer and if necessary help with contacts for temporary housing.

If the suspicion of child abuse arises, parents should be informed and the incident reported to the social emergency service.

Nacka Local Emergency Ward and Health Centre

With regard to medical queries, the woman can turn to the health centre during daytime hours on week days for evaluation, advice and support, and also further help.

Stockholm South General Hospital (SöS), Emergency Clinic for Rape Victims
If a woman is subjected to rape or sexual assault she is directly referred to the Emergency Clinic for Rape Victims at Stockholm South General Hospital, which has access to emergency gynaecology and an organized plan of action, in order to provide help and support as quickly and efficiently is possible.

Police and Prosecutors

Both the police in Nacka and the prosecution authority prioritize investigations into family violence. In the event of a police report and pending investigation, the woman receives information concerning the legal process.

All victims of crime have the right to information on what happens to their case, from the time they make a report until the case is filed away. In certain cases supplementary information must be given according to the needs of the crime victim, for example concerning a plaintiff’s representative, a ban on visiting, the right to economic compensation in the form of damages, witness support, or legal aid via home insurance if applicable.

The police also issue information on alarm packages, protected personal data, new identities/fictitious personal data, questions concerning threat and risk assessment, and possibly strengthened security measures.

The prosecutor leads the preliminary investigation where family crimes are concerned, that is to say crimes committed against women where the culprit is the husband/partner of the woman or another close relative. This means that the prosecutor decides which investigative measures the police should take.

The Women’s Shelter

The Women’s Shelter in Nacka/Värmdö is a non-profit organization, with no political or religious affiliations. The shelter strives for social development where violence in all forms ceases and is instead replaced by consideration in all interpersonal relations.

The Women’s Shelter offers advice, support and guidance by telephone or during visits, and also helps in contacts with the police, doctors, plaintiff’s representatives or lawyers, as well as with other authorities.

The main activity of the organization is to run the emergency service, to offer sheltered accommodation and give advice and support to women who have been subjected to violence and their children, so that they may live their lives without being subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. The Women’s Shelter is bound by confidentiality and those who call can be granted anonymity. The shelter also runs integrated activities for children.

The Association for Victim Support

The Association for Victim Support is a non-profit organization with no party-political or religious affiliations. The Association for Victim Support is bound by confidentiality and those who call can be granted anonymity. All crime victims can receive advice and support from the association free of charge, and also someone to talk to about what they have been through. They can receive help in contacting authorities, and be guided through the legal process by means of the witness support programme. Support persons are carefully selected and undergo continuous training. When a report is made to the police, the police supply information on the work of the Association for Victim Support.

In addition to the customary contacts and discussions, the Association for Victim Support helps with:
• contacting authorities
• writing letters about damages, changing housing etc
• filling in forms
• witness support
• contacting interpreters, plaintiff’s representatives and psychologists

The Association for Victim Support participates in the debate on the multi-faceted manifestation of new criminality and can, to some extent, offer help with interpreters, contacts with psychologists and help with plaintiff representation.

How to contact us!

The Police Investigation Division, Nacka Strand

08-401 61 41, weekdays 8.00-16.00
The Police Switchboard
08-401 60 60, evenings and weekends

The Social Emergency Service in Nacka

08-718 76 40, 08-401 60 65

Social Services, switchboard

08-718 80 00

Reception Centre for Men

08-718 76 32
Email: mansmottagningen@nacka.se
Call or send an email if you have queries or wish to book a time. Discussions are free of charge.

The Women’s Shelter

08-601 95 72
weekdays 9.00-17.00
Mondays & Wednesdays also 18.00-21.00
emergency telephone weekends, same number

The Association for Victim Support

08-466 91 66
weekdays except Wednesdays

Stockholm South General Hospital, Emergency Clinic for Rape Victims

08-616 21 40 every day, 24 hours

Nacka Local Emergency Ward

08-601 53 53
every day 8.00-22.00

For the telephone number of the nearest health centre see the telephone directory or www.vardguiden.se
Telephone number of the Care Guide
08-320 100

This information is provided in association with Nacka municipality and Social Services, Pre-Schools and Schools, Police, Victim Support and Women’s Shelter.