Varför blir en del människor kriminella? : En kvalitativ analys utifrån f.d. kriminellas perspektiv på sin uppväxt

Sammanfattning: There has been a lot of research on why some people become criminals and what might be behind this development. The reasons are many and often complex, but the common among in research seems to be that the bases for the development of criminal behavior in adulthood are laid early in life during the person's upbringing. My aim with this study has been to examine how the former criminals’ talk about their upbringing, to get a deeper understanding of the factors that may be behind a criminal development. The theoretical perspectives that have been the basis of the study have been the social bonds theory and the symbolic interaction theory. I have taken a qualitative approach, conducting four semi-structured interviews with men that used to have a criminal lifestyle. Interview participants were selected through a targeted selection and by key informants. Through the qualitative interviews and the theoretical perspectives, I have gained a deeper understanding of their own experiences and interpretations of their upbringing, and the factors that may have influenced them to their criminal development. I found that the individual's self-image seems to represent a major role in their criminal development. Their self-image had been negatively shaped through interactions with both people close to them, as with the environment. Individual factors that stood out in the study, was the lack of a significant father figure, a sense of feeling different and that they experienced a sense of exclusion in both school and the established society. The driving force in their ongoing criminal development seemed to be a drive to become and feel accepted.