International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 55

The Impact of Victimological Theories on the Rights of Crime Victims in France
first in Chartres, then in Limoges. Now in
place at 180 locations, mainly in urban and
periurban environments, this “new” profession,
17 which is still poorly funded, provides
a very satisfactory response to the needs
and responsibilities of all involved. These
social workers are specifically trained in social
intervention. They are responsible for
meeting and listening to those who come to
police stations or teams, and for responding
to their needs using a network of partners:
medico-judicial bodies, accommodation
and social rehabilitation centers, victim
support services, and health and/or social
organizations. They are in constant demand,
due to a pressing social need and penal victimizations
(particularly within families),
and they offer a tailored and coordinated
response, as soon after the event as possible.
Given the criminological complexity of
social distress or crime situations that these
social workers face, it is highly desirable for
them to belong to a victim support service
(aniscg.org). It is in this spirit of multidisciplinary
action immediately following the
event that the emergency victim support
service was created in the 2000s.
This strategy of providing social
support as soon as the events come to light
is indispensable. The victimization suffered
further aggravates the victim’s situation, and
that of those close to them. It may result in
marital and even family issues (exacerbated
by not being able to rapidly express the feelings
provoked by the victimization); problems
at work (either technical or in working
relationships) which may lead to absenteeism;
job loss, or resignation (when the victimization
took place in the victim’s mode
of transport or at work); inevitable socioeconomic
problems (when the victim’s professional
and social abilities are affected);
relationship problems (particularly related
to the difficulty of publicly assuming the
harmful consequences of the crime and/or
the victimization); dropping out of school;
and antisocial behavior on the part of children
and adolescents. This accumulation of
consequences is worse when the offense is
a serious one, involving the loss of a loved
one (Rossi 2013), a physical or psychological
attack with serious consequences, rape,
or even an attack on property which ruins
the victim and/or their family. They may
also lead to social dependency, isolation,
rejection, and even social exclusion. Scientific
research is required into these potential
social repercussions, which are still largely
neglected today. Their consideration offers
immediate benefits for victims and/or their
families, as well as long-term advantages for
society (reduced expenditure), thus showing
that social work plays an essential role
in the short-, mid-, and long-term support
for issues involving family, work, and the
social reintegration of victims and their
families.
More generally, the most recent
studies emphasize that in order to represent
emotions, it is necessary to remember them
as realistically as possible. It seems that the
“social sharing of emotions” facilitates this,
since others’ words add new meanings to
those that the victim attributes to the traumatic
event (Rimé 2005). Such a representation
is even more indispensable for victimizations
within the family environment,
in order to help the victim escape the tyrannical
hold of their aggressor, to whom they
are emotionally linked and on whom they
are often socioeconomically and culturally
dependent. Thus, beyond the victim’s own
individual recovery through social sharing
of their emotions, the emotional relationships
between humans reinforce and contribute
to strengthening social harmony in
general. This is why it is necessary to constantly
resituate the trauma in a wider victimological
context, in order to fully take the
victim into account.
53