New study will prevent young people from being recruited to gangs in Norrland

Young people's vulnerability in gang-related crime is a growing social problem, where recruitment takes place at increasingly younger ages. Despite this, there is a lack of knowledge about what the situation looks like in southern and central Norrland. The research project "Breaking the Circle: A Crime Prevention Project to Prevent Recruitment of Young People to Gang Crime" wants to change this.

"Most previous studies that have been done on the recruitment of young people into gang crime have been done in larger cities, such as Stockholm and Malmö, so we simply do not know what it looks like in Norrland," says Sara Skott, leader of the research study and associate professor of criminology.

Not knowing what it looks like in Norrland is a serious deficiency in the current knowledge regarding gang-related crime among young people, says Sara Skott.

"We don't know if knowledge and results from the country's major cities can be generalized to this part of the country," says Sara, adding that this is precisely why such studies need to be done in Norrland as well.

The project is carried out in collaboration with the municipalities of Sundsvall, Sollefteå, Örnsköldsvik and Nordanstig and the County Administrative Board of Västernorrland. The study combines surveys and interviews with both young people and people who work with crime prevention.

Surveys and interviews with young people and professionals

The study combines both surveys and interviews to get a broad and in-depth picture of young people's views on gang-related crime. Among other things, young people are asked to answer anonymously questions about attitudes and experiences, while interviews are conducted with both young people and professionals in crime prevention.

The aim is to increase understanding of why young people are attracted to gang-related crime and how recruitment can be prevented. The study is carried out from an intersectional perspective, where different power structures are taken into account.

"This means that the understanding of gang-related crime and crime prevention work will be examined in the light of different power structures, such as gender, ethnicity, age, heterosexuality and class," explains Sara Skott.

She believes that since research shows that experiences of violence and gang-related crime are shaped by different power structures, these structures need to be taken into account to get an overall picture.

More effective interventions

The hope is that the results of the study will contribute to more effective efforts to prevent young people from being drawn into crime.

"In order to prevent gang-related crime in southern and central Norrland, and to prevent young people from being drawn into this crime, the insights that this project can contribute with are not only necessary but necessary.

Data collection will start in the spring and the first results are expected to be presented in the autumn.

The research project Breaking the Circle