Säkerhet eller omsorg : En analys av mediala diskurser kring lagförslaget för sänkt straffbarhetsålder i Sverige.

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this study is to analyze media discourses related to the debate on lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years in Sweden. The empirical material consists of articles from the national daily newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, as well as the tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen. In total, 30 newspaper articles published between 2025 and 2026 were analyzed. Using a Foucauldian discourse analysis, the study focuses on power, subject positions, implicit meanings, and processes of exclusion within the material. Through the analysis of the newspaper articles, two discourses, with related sub-discourses reproducing different positions in relation to the proposed legislation, were identified. The first is the “security discourse,” in which young offenders are constructed as dangerous actors and a threat to society, thereby legitimizing harsher punishments and increased control. The second is the “children’s rights and care discourse,” in which children are portrayed as vulnerable and in need of protection, shifting the focus toward social interventions, rehabilitation, and children’s rights instead. The way children and young people who commit crimes, as well as the legislative proposal itself, are constructed in the media influences which measures are perceived as legitimate. Knowledge of these media discourses is therefore central to social work, as it contributes to a deeper understanding of how language and power interact in shaping societal problems and solutions.