This report combines a systematic literature review with an exploratory interview study to examine why the municipality of Jönköping, Sweden, experiences relatively low levels of gang-related firearm violence compared to other similarly sized cities. Conducted within a three-year municipal research initiative, the study supports ongoing local development efforts in four priority areas: Huskvarna Söder, Råslätt, Österängen, and Öxnehaga.

The literature review synthesizes current research on structural and social factors that influence gang formation and firearm violence, such as inequality, segregation, and collective identity formation through violence. Additionally, the review presents individual risk factors for gang involvement and gun violence. It also outlines evidence-based interventions—including group violence reduction strategies, public health approaches, and functional family therapy—that have demonstrated positive results internationally.

To complement these findings, six interviews were conducted with strategically selected stakeholders engaged in Jönköping’s crime prevention and youth collaboration efforts. Interviewees emphasized the importance of the municipality’s long-standing, trust-based collaborative frameworks and targeted support for at-risk youths. They also highlighted the role of a strong civil society and high community engagement as protective factors. Comparative data suggest that Jönköping’s relatively low levels of segregation and socioeconomic inequality further contribute to its resilience.

The report concludes by recommending future research into how local criminal ecosystems may influence gang dynamics and help stabilize levels of violence.

 Aims: Involvement in minor drug offences at an early age can be a signal of the onset of a potential drug issue. This is why Sweden has considered the criminalization of personal use as a strategy to deter the progression of drug use. This study investigated how the judiciary and social services succeed in identifying and providing support to adolescents convicted of drug offences. Methods: Characteristics of all 15–17-year-olds convicted of offences against the Act on Penal Law on Narcotics (drug offence) in 2017 were examined using Swedish longitudinal registry data (N = 1847). Furthermore, the decision process rendering different legal responses was examined by use of social services files for a subsample of 189 adolescents. Results: About two-thirds of the adolescents had their first conviction for the index offence and the majority received legal responses consisting of rehabilitative measures. Background factors indicated that those with severe drug and criminal issues encounter risk factors relating to their upbringing (e.g., neuropsychiatric disorders were notably more prevalent in this group than among similar peers). Around 61% of adolescents were reconvicted for new drug offences during the three-year study period, but with variations among subgroups. Younger boys who received rehabilitative measures had lower reconviction rates compared to those without. Conclusions: Addressing the underlying factors contributing to adolescent drug offences requires a multifaceted approach that prioritizes early intervention, personalized support, and collaboration across systems to promote positive outcomes and reduce recidivism rates.

The Wellbeing Wheel is a tool used for early detection, assessment, and planning around children. This study examines how this artefact has been translated from Scotland to Sweden and what that process involved in relation to transformation from the original ideas when travelling from one specific context to another. The analysis was based on three graphic wheels and their supporting documentation, interviews, and field notes. The results reveal great similarity in the overall ‘spirit’ of the work performed to introduce the Wellbeing Wheel to the Swedish context, but on several points significant differences can also be noted, with some content being removed or relocated, and new content being added. These changes were conscious and intentional in some instances, while others arose spontaneously and ad hoc during the development processes.

The mandatory reporting system of children at risk of harm is a cornerstone in the Swedish welfare state’s ability to identify, support, and protect children. This system continues to expand, involving an increasing number of children. This article maps the implications and processes involved in making the mandatory reporting system meaningful for identifying children at risk and enabling collaboration between the police and child welfare services. It does so in light of current political discussions and development efforts on early interventions and coordinated activities between welfare sectors. Drawing on interviews with 17 professionals from the police, child welfare services, and strategic positions involved in initiatives to enhance collaboration between welfare organizations, the article reveals that the mandatory reporting system is a double-edged sword. It is considered a necessary tool for safeguarding children in need and an important societal statement of children’s right to protection and support. At the same time, the system is perceived as a challenging entry point for the changing capacity of social work, creating ambiguities for professionals who find themselves navigating a system where it is nearly impossible to act correctly. Current development initiatives are intended to address the system’s flaws by creating an interface that promotes close collaboration between welfare sectors and facilitates earlier identification of children in need. However, these efforts introduce new challenges, particularly regarding what kind of worry police are supposed to report to child welfare services and the capacity of the mandatory reporting system.

Att barn och unga i så hög grad uteblir från skolan att frånvaro snarare än deltagande blir det normala är ett växande problem som berör många elever idag. Orsakerna till frånvaron är ofta komplexa och handlar om ett samspel mellan olika svårigheter, vilket gör att utmaningarna med att ta sig till och stanna kvar i skolan kan upplevas som oöverstigliga.

Att långsiktigt stå utanför den ordinarie skolgången är dock ingen hållbar lösning. Förutom risken att halka efter i kunskapsinhämtningen innebär det också en risk för social isolering. I takt med att långvarig frånvaro blivit ett allt tydligare problem i den svenska skolan har särskilda funktioner och arbetssätt utvecklats, både i förebyggande syfte och för att stödja återgång till skolan. Denna rapport beskriver erfarenheter från arbetet med problematisk skolfrånvaro, invävda i ett sammanhang där forskning och praktik möts. 

Här får du ta del av resultatet från så kallade kunskapsdialoger, där ett antal praktiskt verksamma medarbetare inom skola och socialtjänst i Växjö kommun mötte två forskare från Linnéuniversitetet. Syftet var att dela erfarenheter och skapa gemensam kunskap för metodutveckling inom området. 

Hösten 2023 genomförde tio kommuner i Göteborgsregionen ungdomsundersökningen LUPP, i nära samarbete med varandra och med stöd av GR och FoU i Väst. Kommunerna var Ale, Härryda, Kungsbacka, Kungälv, Lerum, Lilla Edet, Partille, Stenungsund, Tjörn och Öckerö. Samtliga kommuner gjorde enkäten med ungdomar i årskurs 8 och flertalet av kommunerna även med ungdomar i gymnasiets år 2. 

FoU i Väst har tagit fram lokala resultatrapporter som under året har diskuterats i kommunerna på olika sätt. Före sommaren publicerades en regional delrapport med huvudresultaten i diagramform, med möjlighet att jämföra kommunernas resultat med varandra och att följa utvecklingen över tid. Delrapporten ger även en bakgrund till det regionala samarbetet kring LUPP i Göteborgsregionen och beskriver genomförandet av enkäten samt dataunderlagets kvalitet. Samtliga rapporter finns tillgängliga på www.goteborgsregionen.se/lupp 

Den här regionala rapporten motsvarar den sista delen av uppdraget från de tio kommunerna: en analysrapport baserad på LUPP 2023 med fokus på ungdomars psykiska hälsa. Analyserna är särskilt inriktade på att undersöka hur skolrelaterad stress, omfattande användning av mobiler och sociala medier samt upplevelser av otrygghet och erfarenheter av utsatthet tycks bidra till psykisk ohälsa. 

Det finns ett stort behov av kunskap om ungas psykiska hälsa och vad som bidrar till att forma den. Den här rapporten bidrar till aktuell kunskap inom detta område. Det finns samtidigt ett minst lika stort behov av insatser, med tanke på att många ungdomar ger uttryck för psykisk ohälsa. Rapporten innehåller reflektioner och förslag på möjliga åtgärder i ett förstärkt arbete kring barns och ungas hälsa. Vår förhoppning är att den här rapporten ska kunna inspirera kommuner till utvecklingsarbete för, och tillsammans med, kommunernas unga invånare. 

Kapitlet undersöker vilket stöd som personer som lämnar ett gäng behöver för att bygga upp ett nytt liv och nya sätt att tänka om sig själv och sina omständigheter. Utgångspunkten är Passus avhopparverksamhet i Stockholm. 

This article contributes to the understanding of how residents and social guides collaboratively navigate multiple forms of displacement within Municipal Service Centres (MSC) situated in marginalised communities in Sweden. Drawing on critical theories of the production space, the paper posits that social work can be understood as an emplacement practice in response to displacement from vital resources such as jobs, housing, and residence permits. The article identifies two pivotal emplacement practices operating at MSCs: reclaiming and enclosing. MSCs are perceived as institutional spaces that provide residents with agential power to navigate challenging realities, conditional welfare systems, and bordering practices. The study draws on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a specific MSC located in a marginalised community, along with interviews with 23 social guides and 6 managers in four other MSC within similar settings. Employing a relational ethnographic approach, the study observes face-to-face encounters, collaboration, and education between residents and social guides.

Belonging to a criminal gang often strongly influences members’ identities, particularly their self-perceptions and social roles. Entering or leaving a gang may challenge members’ understandings of the meaning and structure of their lives and threaten their sense of control. The aim of this study was to explore how members narrate these transitions and whether such stages may be seen as liminal passages. This article draws in particular on the theory of possible selves, which suggests that people change through experiencing their present selves as incomplete versions of their anticipated selves. We analysed data from two qualitative research projects on gang exits using content analysis from interviews with clients and employees in one Swedish exit programme and clients at correctional facilities or probation services. In addition, data consists of interviews with employees from these. The analysis suggests that while gang members narrate entry as a continuation towards understanding themselves and their potential place in the world, leaving the gang implies entry into a liminal terrain with fewer role models and possible projective imaginings of their future selves. Such liminal passages are analytically linked to a need for role models and experienced guides to manifest a way forward and support defectors in the process of leaving. Gang leavers need ‘ceremonial masters’, in this case professionals with experience of exiting processes, to support them in imagining and creating new lives and new selves outside of the gang. 

Summary

Gangs are commonly presented in research as an attractive alternative for those who feel excluded and unrecognized in “ordinary” society. Gang life is volatile, however, and violence (open or suppressed) is more or less omnipresent. Exiting a gang seems to be motivated by both thoughts of a better life and disappointment in the gang's failure to meet hopes and expectations.

Findings

From an analysis of former gang members exit processes, this article investigates what about gang life was stressful and motivated participants dropout, how they coped with tensions, and elaborates how social work could use this tension productively to support people exiting gangs. The data consist primary of interviews with 20 former gang members and 42 professionals. Organizational theory was used in combination with theories on liminality and identity reformation to understand how tensions occurred in gang life, how they were managed, and what caused exit.

Applications

Social workers may help members exit from gangs by supporting and strengthening their motivations to leave, stimulating their self-reflection, and reminding them of their past transformative. Most important, gang members should be helped to recognize the positive urges that drew them towards gangs and refocus those wishes for community to general society.