The increased focus on the crime victim in the political sphere, has made it possible to develop an individualized criminal policy, where responsibility is emphasized. The main purpose of this study is to examine whether perceptions of interventions aimed at violence in the workplace have changed since the 1970s as portrayed by Swedish trade union journals. The occupational health perspective is the most common. Here threats and violence are seen as something preventable, and are mainly dealt with within the workplace. In the beginning of the study period, structural factors are seen as the dominating explanation for workplace violence and methods of intervention take this perspective. The crime perspective rises in the 1990s – even though the “perpetrator” now can be non-traditional (such as nurses or the elderly). It is characterized by individualization and an increasing focus on the crime victim. Within this perspective, the method of intervention becomes the control- and justice functions of larger society. Interestingly, organizational violence (corporate neglect) emerges as a new form of violence that challenges individualization as the major explanation to this development. The result shows search for accountability as a salient factor for understanding the development towards an increasing use of penal sanctions.