Återfall i brottslighet efter sluten ungdomsvård - En studie om hantering av unga lagförbrytare

Sammanfattning: Recidivism has always been a common problem. Young people, who are convicted and subjected to closed institutional youth care detention (LSU) runs, due to their young age, a particularly high risk to reoffend. Swedish criminal statistics shows that as many as 60 percent relapse into crime within a year. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the causes that can be attributed to relapse into crime after being subjected to closed institutional youth care detention. This means that the essay seeks to clarify the motives behind the imposition of the sanction. Subsequently, I will examine whether the result of the sanction has become what the legislature intended. The questions are answered by processing legislative history, laws, statistics and criminal literature. The results of the examination are then problematized from a critical criminological perspective. LSU was introduced as a result of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1999. The law provides an alternative sanction to imprisonment for persons under 18. The idea behind the introduction was to contribute adequate care and a well-adapted treatment for offenders younger than 18 years. The legislator's intention was also to contribute with general and individual prevention, and as such prevent recidivism. Criminal statistics have shown that the sanction has not complied with individual prevention to the extent that the legislator intended. On the contrary the proportion of relapse has only increased. Consequently, the following question arises: Can closed institutional youth care detention, in cooperation with reasons related to the youths themselves, be a contributing factor to the increased percentage of recidivism? The conclusion of my thesis shows that youth crime can occur due to lack of social ties, unfavorable conditions at home, low self-control, previous crime, early crime debut, or a an ill-balanced sanction. If the institutional care detention is to be as effective as possible, it requires an individualized care with the child's best interest at heart. A good individualized care is best achieved through a close cooperation between the social service and pro-social contacts. It is important that institutional placement is as open as the situation may allow. Functioning time at the institution and good contact with family and friends is also related to better treatment results. To make the proportion of recidivism decrease, it requires greater efforts to evaluate and greater efforts to improve and secure adjustment in accordance with effective treatment theories.