Vägen tillbaka – En kvalitativ studie om LSU-placerade ungdomars förutsättningar att lämna kriminalitet efter frigivning från SiS

Sammanfattning

This study aimed to investigate which factors professionals at the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) consider crucial in planning the release and aftercare of youth placed in secure youth care (LSU) to enable them to desist from criminality. The study focused on the period immediately before and after the youth´s release. It explored how structural and organizational conditions, individual factors related to identity, self-perception, and motivation, as well as social support, influence this period according to professionals at SiS. Purposive sampling was used to recruit six SiS professionals, where data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the empirical material resulted in a thematic structure that organised the findings into three central dimensions: act, identity, and relational desistance. These concepts enabled a descriptive overview of how various factors influence young people’s paths towards desistance, while also illustrating that this process is dynamic and cannot be reduced to isolated factors. Desistance from crime is thus shaped by practical actions, internal dimensions such as identity and motivation, as well as the extent and quality of the youths´ social support. The study’s most significant finding is that the process of leaving crime is multifaceted and complex, necessitating a holistic perspective to provide effective aftercare interventions for young people following release. Furthermore, the findings highlight persistent weaknesses in collaboration between the National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) and social services, characterised by unclear divisions of responsibility and municipal variation in service provision. This lack of sustainable coordination tends to result in young people not receiving the support required after the institutional placement. Aftercare for LSU-placed youth remains uncertain, particularly due to the lack of national guidelines, which further complicates cooperation between key actors within youth care. Consequently, further research on aftercare is needed to assess its actual impact on young people in practice and to explore how it can be further developed.