Services that provide free and confidential help to victims of crime, witnesses, and their family. Usually, the support services that are offered are tailored to the needs of each person. In general, however, they consist of information and advice, counselling, advocacy, peer support and group work, compensation, restorative justice, personal safety services, help in navigating the criminal justice system, court support. At European level, the first victim support service was started in 1974 in Bristol (England).
Published in Chapter:
Family Violence: Not Only Women
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-1286-9.ch003
Abstract
Using data from official statistics and surveys on victimization, this chapter aims to estimate the extent of domestic violence against men and examine the contraposition between female aggressors and male victims. More detailed knowledge both of women perpetrators and their male victims is believed to be useful for preparing appropriate programs of rehabilitation for the former as well as effective methods of intervention and help for the victims. The chapter reflects on the fact that, from the point of view of victimology, one of the risks to avoid is that of considering men as “second-class victims,” and from the criminological point of view, it is necessary to gain greater knowledge of the figure of the abusive woman, as well as focusing attention on the social representations of domestic violence.