Stockholm university

Crime victims and their experiences in focus of her research

Anita Heber is professor in criminology at the Department of Criminology. She is one of the new professors who will be installed at a ceremony in the Stockholm City Hall on September 27.

Anita Heber is professor at the Department of Criminology. Photo: Rickard Kilström


“I have mainly done research in two areas: organized crime and victimology, that is research on victims of crime. These two subjects are more connected than you might think! I have particularly wanted to highlight ‘non-traditional’ crime victims, such as male criminals who have been victims of crime. But I have also focused more generally on men accused of crime and how they are treated by the justice system. More recently, I have also studied sex trafficking, which can be linked to my previous research on different types of organized crime.”

 

How did you get into this?

“I started teaching victimology twenty years ago, which sparked my interest in crime victims. Since then I have read and written about the subject but also discussed and learned from my students and interviewees. Regarding organized crime, I started working on it at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) back in 2001. At that time, there was very little research on organized crime in Sweden. The international research that existed was mostly about the mafia or American gangs, which was not particularly relevant, and therefore Swedish organized crime was an interesting topic.”

 

How does your research contribute to society?

“My main contribution has perhaps been to nuance who we see as crime victims by highlighting alternative crime victims and their experiences. I have done this by researching, writing, teaching and speaking about crime victims in the media and at conferences. With regard to organized crime, I was involved and showed early on that Swedish organized crime should rather be seen as network-based than organized, which is now seen as obvious. Together with colleagues, I have developed analysis models, studied different types of organized crime and shown how the police can work.”

 

What has been most exciting so far? 

“I interviewed criminal men in my very first project after I had finished my postgraduate studies. Even then, the men talked about how stressful, difficult and horrible life as a criminal could be, and that they would like to quit but that it was difficult to completely start over. I did the interviews a long time ago, and now the situation has gotten worse. Therefore, I am about to start a three-year project on desistance from crime gangs to see how society can get more people to stop committing crimes.”

This year's Inauguration and conferment ceremony in the Stockholm City Hall will take place on 27 September. Photo: Rickard Kilström
 

Inauguration and Conferment ceremony in the City Hall

Anita Heber is one of the new professors who were employed during 1 July 2023–30 June 2024. All new professors who took office during this period are invited to the Inauguration and conferment ceremony in the Stockholm City Hall 27 September 2024. The professorial installation is the occasion when the new professors are welcomed to the university and their different subject areas are brought to attention.

Read more about Anita Hebers research.

Theme
Law, Crime and Justice - Theme page

Last updated: September 5, 2024

Source: Communications Office

eventNewsArticle

standard-article

false

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.subject",
      "name": "Global categories",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Keywords",
      "name": "Keywords",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Person",
      "name": "Person",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Tag",
      "name": "Tag",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "localcategorytree.su.se.english",
      "name": "Local categories for www.su.se/english",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category",
      "name": "Globala kategorier Nyheter (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.education.news",
          "name": "Education",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        },
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.research.news",
          "name": "Research",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        },
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.about_us.news",
          "name": "About the university",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label",
      "name": "Tema (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label.en",
      "name": "Themes (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label.en.law",
          "name": "Law, Crime and Justice",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Keyword",
      "name": "Keywords (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    }
  ]
}