Den laglöse medborgaren : en policyanalys av Stockholms kommuns arbete med individer i kriminalitet

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to examine how the problem with individuals in a criminal lifestyle is represented in municipal policy documents regarding the work with this group. The work with delinquents on a municipal level takes place in so-called ’defector services’. To examine what problems and assumptions lie behind these policies, we apply Carol Bacchis social constructionist WPR approach and her set of questions that target such aspects in the policies. Our analysis shows that the problem is represented to lie with the individuals, parental deficiencies, children’s schooling and preventive work. These problems are based on assumptions about dichotomies between unlawful/law-abiding citizens, passive/activesubjects, and the bad/good society. We link this to research regarding risk factors showing that juveniles lack judging capacity, leading to risktaking and criminal behaviour. This type of research appears to strongly impact the policies under study, which tend to prioritise juvenile delinquents, while deprioritizing adult delinquents. Bacchi suggests that all problem representations have material effects. We suggest that prioritising adult delinquents would have positive effects on both an individual and structural level and that moving the defector service for adult delinquents to the local level would allow for easier access.