It is of importance to direct resources to prevention since crime is costly both for the offender, possible victims and of society and its citizens at large. In general, prevention programs and the types of interventions are not well understood. It is therefore of necessity to find and study potential causal mechanisms that could aid and enable better preventive measures. This study investigates such mechanisms by testing one of the key aspects of the Situational Action Theory: the perception-choice process. This study relies on data gathered within the frames of Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development study (MINDS). Through scenario research and self-reported crime data the correspondence between criminal intentions and actual criminal behaviours are investigated. Relevant personal and situational characteristics are examined in order to provide insights about crime propensity and the role of motivation and controls in intended and actual action outcomes. The result show that Swedish adolescents’ criminal intentions correspond with self-reported actual criminal behaviours to a large extent. The result further indicates clear tendencies of correspondence between level of propensity and prevalence of criminal intentions and actual criminal behaviours.

The main aim of this study is to explain adolescent offending variety by their parental country of birth. In doing so, the independent effect size and proportion of variance of two core elements of Situational Action Theory (SAT) – propensity and lifestyle risk – on offending variety are examined by immigrant background and gender. Although previous studies produced plenty of support to key assumption of SAT, no study so far measured offending variety as dependent variable. Analyses are based on self-reported data collected for Malmö Individual and Neighborhood Development Study (MINDS) during 2011-12, when the adolescent attained the age between 16 and 17. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression is run to examine the magnitude of effect and proportion of variance. Strong relation of offending variety separately with propensity and lifestyle risk was identified. Contrary to current scholarship on immigrant crime in Sweden, adolescent with immigrant parents are found at no more risk to engage in self-reported delinquency than the natives. Gender difference remains as a strong predictor of offending variety, especially for the immigrant group. This research reveals similarities in magnitude of effects of criminal propensity and lifestyle risks on offending variety, regardless of adolescents’ parental country of birth. Yet, propensity is a stronger predictor for delinquency variety than the lifestyle risks. This confirms applicability of the core elements of SAT, regardless of adolescents’ parental country of birth.

En utökad förståelse för vad brottsbenägenhet är och vilka faktorer som påverkar den är ett viktigt första steg för att kunna förebygga hög brottsbenägenhet i befolkningen samt för att hantera aktuell brottsproblematik. Inom Situationell handlingsteori (SAT) definieras individens brottsbenägenhet som hennes lagrelevanta moral och förmåga att utöva självkontroll. Brottsbenägenhet påverkas av en mängd olika faktorer och den moraliska kontext som individen befinner sig i förefaller vara en av de mest centrala. Familjen och kamratgruppen är båda inflytelserika moraliska kontexter som kan påverka individens handlande och forskning visar att de har olika mycket inflytande i olika skeden i livet. Utifrån MINDS materialet undersöks förhållandet mellan familjens och kamratgruppens samband med brottsbenägenheten i 14–15 års ålder. Därutöver testas huruvida föräldrarnas uppfostringsstil samt graden av socialt kapital spelar en viktig roll för respektive kontexts inflytande på brottsbenägenheten.För att besvara forskningsfrågorna formulerades fem hypoteser som testas med en multipel linjär regressionsanalys.Resultaten visar att både föräldrarnas utövande av kontroll och umgänge med kriminella kamrater har ett signifikant samband med brottsbenägenhet i 14–15 år ålder. Dock visar sig umgänge med kriminella kamrater ha ett betydligt starkare samband med brottsbenägenhet än föräldrakontroll. Därav framträder kamratgruppen som en mer inflytelserik moralisk kontext än föräldrarna beträffande brottsbenägenhet i 14–15 års ålder. Socialt kapital visar sig ha ett signifikant samband med brottsbenägenhet, även när modellerna kontrollerar för föräldrakontroll, umgänge med kriminella kamrater och uppfostringsstil. Detsamma gäller inte för föräldrarnas uppfostringsstil vars samband med brottsbenägenheten varken är signifikant enskilt eller när modellen kontrollerar för övriga variabler. Uppsatsens resultat tydliggör flera intressanta möjligheter till vidare forskning om brottsbenägenhet samt har en rad implikationer för långsiktigt brottsförebyggande arbete. / A more comprehensive understanding of what crime propensity is, and which factors influence it, is an important step towards improving prevention of high crime propensity in the population as well as dealing with contemporary crime problems. In Situational action theory (SAT) an individual’s crime propensity is defined as his or her law-relevant morality and ability to exercise self-control. Although many factors can influence crime propensity, the moral context of situations seem to be one of the most crucial. Both family and peers constitute influential moral contexts in adolescents lives and their respective influence may vary in different stages of development. Based on the MINDS material, this paper tests the relationship between family and peers in influencing adolescents’ crime propensity at 14-15 years of age. The influence of social capital and parenting style on crime propensity is also tested in relation to family and peers. In order to answer the research questions five hypothesis were tested with multiple OLS regressions. The results show that both parental control and deviant peers correlate significantly with crime propensity at age 14-15 although the relation between peers and crime propensity is significantly stronger. This leads us to the conclusion that the peer group constitutes a more influential moral context than the parents in influencing crime propensity at age 14-15. Social capital correlates significantly with crime propensity, even when models control for parental control, deviant peers, and parenting style. This is not the case with parenting style which show no significant association with crime propensity. The results highlight several interesting avenues for future research into crime propensity and have several implications for crime prevention in practice.