Listening to the "Voices of Lived Experience": Rethinking Victim Support for Hate Crime and Extremism (PGR/ECR Webinar)

Guest Speaker:  Dr Camila Iglesias

Title: Listening to the "Voices of Lived Experience": Rethinking Victim Support for Hate Crime and Violent Extremism

Abstract: 

Victims of hate crime and violent extremism face compounded harms that differentiate them from victims of general crime, including social stigma, identity-based targeting, and heightened risks of secondary victimisation. Grounded in the EU-funded VicTory Project (JUST-2023-JACC-EJUSTICE), this study adopts a lived-experience-informed approach to examine how victims and frontline practitioners perceive the strengths and weaknesses of victim support systems, particularly in cases of hate and violence extremism, where individuals are targeted for "who they are rather than what they have done". Data were collected during cross-country seminars and professional encournters, where practitioners working with victims of hate and violent extremis, as well as victims themselves, shared testimonies regarding institutional response to such incidents. Exchanges were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analysed. Findings are organised around three pillars. First, challenges in delivering effective assistance, including insufficient legal support, fragmented and non-multidisciplinary responses, institutional distrust, and the low prioritisation of hate and violent extremis incidents. Second, systemic gaps affecting victims and professionals, such as the absence of structured and transversal training, institutional blind spots regarding diversity and internal discrimination, underfunding, and a misalignment between victim needs and professional practices. Third, restorative pathways to healing, highlighting the transformative potential of restorative practices, such as dialogue circles, as spaces for collective repair, agency restoration, emotional closure, and community rebuilding, beyond conventional judicial outcomes. 

The convergence between victim and practitioner testimonies underscores that fragmented institutional responses are not isolated shortcomings but structural patterns. Accordingly, the results suggest that multi-agency cooperation, alongside trauma-informed and culturally competent training, constitutes a structural necessity. By grounding recommendations in lived experience, the study provides actionable guidance for policymakers, institutional actors, and frontline practitioners seeking to strengthen responses to hate and extremism-motivated harm across Europe. 

About the speaker: 

Camila Iglesias holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Criminology from the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto. She is an associate professor and researcher in Criminology and Criminal Sciences at the Faculty of Law of Lusófona University of Lisbon, where her scientific work focuses mainly on (in)security, fear of crime, victimology, and prevention. She is an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Law Francisco Suárez (CEAD) of Lusófona University of Lisbon and a Collaborating Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies (CIEG-ISCSP) of the University of Lisbon and at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Justice (CIJ-FDUP) of the University of Porto. She also collaborates as a volunteer with the Alternative and Response Women’s Association (UMAR NGO). In recent years, she has participated in several national and international competitively funded projects, with a particular focus on gender based violence, gender equality, and victimisation, including studies on intimate partner violence, domestic violence, femicide, and hate related crimes and expressions.

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