ABSTRACT
A political statement that actively promotes the interests of crime victims is a relatively new occurrence in Sweden. Th e word brottsoff er (crime victim)† fi rst appeared in the Swedish language in 1970 [Österberg, 2002]. During the 1970s and early 1980s, there was little public interest in this group. Th e fi rst two nongovernmental crime victim support centers opened in the early 1980s but had to shut down because of nonuse [Åkeström and Sahlin, 2001]. Until the mid-1980s, few motions (i.e., proposals tabled in the Swedish Parliament by one or more of its members) fell under the title crime victim [Th am, 2001a]. Since the mid-1980s, the concerns for crime victims have grown dramatically. Between 1989 and 1995, the number of crime victim support centers increased from 15 to 100 [Larsson and Stub, 1998]. In the late 1980s, the center-right opposition made several motions in support of crime victims; the Liberal Party was especially active [Th am, 2001a]. To date, as Th am [2001a] points out, all political parties, from left to right, have been unanimous in calling for increased support for crime victims. An indication of this consensus is that the Swedish H.M. Queen Silvia herself holds an honorary position in Th e Swedish Association of Victim Support. A member of the Royal Family can only be involved in politics where there is total political agreement [Th am, 2001a].
