Recidivism: The citizens’ perspective

Sammanfattning: Recidivism among formerly convicted clients is a topic which has many facets during the present days. As a result, many individuals harbour attitudes towards clients which can result in difficulties returning to a crime-free life. This thesis was conducted to better understand people’s attitudes within the subject of recidivism and followed a quantitative format. A survey was sent out via social media and email. There were 55 respondents (women n = 20, men n = 35). Answers were analysed using descriptive statistics and differences by gender and older/younger age groups were analysed using Mann-Whitney tests and Pearson's chi-squared tests (χ2). The results indicate how the respondents deemed a necessity of improving the Swedish prison and probation service’s work to help clients before and after release. However, overall, no significant differences between either response type or groups were found on any of the questions analysed, apart from a question related to the beliefs of change after a prison sentence where older individuals rated lower in their views on rehabilitation.