Ungdomsbrottslighet som moralisk panik - En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av framställningen av ungdomsbrottslighet i svensk dagspress under åren 2019-2022

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how the Swedish daily press constructs juvenile delinquency. We did this by studying 24 articles from three different Swedish newspapers. To qualify for the study, the articles had to include sufficient descriptions of the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency and juvenile delinquents. With social constructionism as a fundamental perspective, a thematic content analysis was made using Stanley Cohen’s theory of moral panic. We found that juvenile delinquents were either described as folk devils or as victims. Either the young criminals were described as reckless and dangerous or as helpless victims. We also found that certain people, the so-called experts, get a prominent role in the media and their statements verify the media’s image of what the newspapers write. These findings constitute a minority of our findings.