"Att tillhöra någonstans, det är ju grunden i allting." Livsberättelser om vägar in i, genom och ut ur kriminalitet.

Sammanfattning

This study examines how people with lived experiences of crime describe processes of entry into and exit from criminality. Furthermore, the study analyses how social bonds, turning points, and key life experiences are given meaning, and how the functions of criminality can be understood through the participants' life narratives. With a symbolic interactionist perspective, the analysis is made using Sampson and Laub's Age Graded Theory of Informal Social Control, Honneth's theory of recognition, and the concepts of action competence (Nygren) and Ingold's concept of lines. The empirical material consists of six semi-structured interviews with individuals aged 30-60 who have served criminal sentences. Participants were recruited from an organization supporting people with criminal justice experience in accessing the labour market. The material was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that crime rarely appears in participants' life stories as an isolated choice. Instead, involvement in criminality seemed to emerge gradually through childhood experiences, relational difficulties and significant life events. Many of the participants describe early insecurity, social exclusion and lack of recognition, and that the criminal environments provided belonging, status and everyday structure. Crime thus fulfilled both practical and emotional functions, which can explain the persistence over time. Most of the participants describe exiting crime as a process shaped by new social relations, turning points and changes in self-image and understanding.