Author(s):
Lena Fecher, Fredericke Leuschner & Paulina Lutz

Institution:
Kriminologische Zentralstelle

Title:
Escalation factors in violence against employees of helping and norm-enforcing professions from the perspective of the attackers

Abstract:
Research on violence against officials from helping and norm-enforcing professions so far has mainly focused on the perspective of those affected. The current article presents the results of qualitative interviews with citizens who were involved in conflict situations with employees of those pro­fessions. From the subjective descriptions, factors that pro­moted escalations in the specific situations were identified. Those relate to the behavior and appearance of the officials. From this information, approaches on how to prevent esca­lations can be derived for employees of helping and norm-enforcing professions. In particular, a calm, polite, empathic and unbiased communication with citizens plays a key role.

S. 41-54