The subjects were 130 male prisoners in Swedish jails were examined by SCID and the diagnoses given in terms of DSM-IV. The most common mental disorder was drug abuse. On Axis II several personality disorders were diagnosed. Personality assessments were made by KSP. High scores were mainly found for e.g. impulsiveness, sensation seeking, aggression and low scores in socialisation. MAO assays were performed in 99 male criminal offenders and in 60 non-criminal volunteers. Offenders had lower MAO activity than controls also with the confounding factor smoking under control. It is proposed that platelet MAO is linked to personality traits, which can predispose for criminality. For testing the existence of combinations of vulnerability factors, a configuration frequency analysis (CFA) was used. The criteria which formed the basis for the subgrouping were; MAO activity below or above –0.5 SD of the mean (L and H), the presence or absence of an Axis I disorder (= drug abuse) (Y/N), the presence or absence of an Axis II disorder (Y/N), or the presence or absence of an Axis I and II disorder (Y/N). In this way eight subgroups were formed. Two significant "types" were found among the criminals: One was characterised by low platelet MAO activity, Cluster B personality diagnosis as well as Drug Abuse Disorder diagnosis (LYY); and the other by a pattern of normal platelet MAO activity, no Cluster B personality disorder, and no Drug Disorder diagnosis (HNN). Also two "antitypes", occurring less frequent than expected, were identified; LYN and LNY. Thus, the aggregation of certain risk factors in the same individual has been shown to contribute to the development of criminal behaviour. The subgroups HNN, LYN, LNY and LYY were then analysed for a variety of criminological factors. There was a difference in mean age between the subgroups, the HNN being lowest. Economical crimes were more common at an early criminal debut and crimes involving violence at an adult debut. The HNN subgroup had a lower number of crimes and times spent in jail than the other subgroups. More than 50% of the clients in all groups had previously been sentenced to Reformatory.

Antisocial behaviour and alcohol problems are areas of great concern to society, not only associated with personal and emotional costs for the affected individuals and their victims, but also with major societal financial costs. What makes some individuals more likely than others to develop these kinds of problems? The general aim of this thesis was to explore the role of individual characteristics in the development of antisocial behaviour and alcohol problems. More specifically, the research focused on aspects of hyperactive behaviour, personality traits and biological vulnerability indicators in relation to self-reported norm breaking and violent behaviour, registered general criminality and violent offending in particular, and further, on risky alcohol use and drinking offences. The studies were based on both a prospective longitudinal project in which a group of adolescent male lawbreakers and controls were followed from the 1960s into the 1990s, and on more recently collected data on a representative group of Swedish male and female adolescents. The results of the thesis supported that neuropsychological deficits, manifested in attention difficulties, and personality traits reflecting disinhibition and negative emotionality, influence the development of antisocial behaviour and risky alcohol use, which in turn increases the risk of subsequent alcohol problems. The findings indicated, furthermore, that these neuropsychological deficits may be associated with an underlying biological vulnerability to various forms of disinhibitory psychopathology. Although the thesis focuses on individual characteristics, the results also support the view that environmental risk factors such as the influence of family and peers and possible stress experiences, play an important role. It was emphasized that individual characteristics continuously interact with environmental conditions in shaping each individual’s developmental course. Results also revealed that adolescent females displaying violent behaviour and engaging in potentially harmful use of alcohol deviated more in personality traits than did the corresponding group of males. Further knowledge of the development of these problems in females is crucial, since most theories in this area have been developed primarily on male samples.

Deportation due to criminal activity is often viewed as a neutral administrative practice and has to date received little research attention. This study views the phenomenon as part of a broader field focused on regulating people’s mobility. It also looks at the balance between the state’s interest in deporting non-citizens who commit crime and the goal of protecting refugees. Deportation due to criminal activity is first discussed from five perspectives: as alien control, as punishment and the spatial separation of criminal “others”, as migratory movement and forcible repatriation, in relation to human rights and as a “second asylum hearing”, and as border practice. The study then examines deportation in district courts between 1973 and 2003, via a quantitative study of all convictions involving deportation. Deportation practice differs between persons who are and are not registered as residents. Residents are deported for more serious offences than others and increasingly often over time for crimes against the person and drug crime. The number of non-residents deported increases greatly from 1985, which cannot be explained by an increase in convictions or by legislative changes. The study finally examines the reasoning of courts on possible impediments to deportation when the person convicted had refugee or equivalent status. The court collected an opinion from the Swedish Immigration Board in 80 percent of such cases. The opinions are very brief, often identical for different individuals and seem to be based on general guidelines for different countries rather than the individual’s fear of persecution at sentencing time. In the other cases the court makes its own assessment of impediments to deportation, but the risks faced by those convicted are rarely discussed in the court judgements. In 17 cases, the individual was deported despite the Board’s opinion noting a risk of persecution.

The focus of the thesis is on violent offenders with schizophrenia and their relatives. The aims were to explore incidence of violent crimes, the extent to which family members were victims, to investigate individual background factors among violent offenders, and to identify psychotic symptoms and triggering factors associated with fatal violence. In addition, parents were interviewed to build an understanding of their experiences and emotional reactions. One study examined all 369 male individuals who had committed a violent crime (assault, homicide or attempt to any of these crimes), who in a pre-trial forensic psychiatric evaluation (FPE) during 1992-2000 were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and who were referred to forensic psychiatric treatment. Although the majority of the 615 victims was unacquainted to the offenders, family members or male acquainted were most at risk of being severely injured or killed as victims. Background factors were studied for the 207 Swedish offenders who for their first time were subjects of a FPE during the study period. There were indications that those offenders who targeted family members had an earlier onset and more severe course of their mental illness. During the study period, 48 offenders committed homicides. Of the 52 victims, 83% were family members or acquainted to the offender. Those who killed a family member had more often delusions and/or hallucinations, were less often intoxicated, had to a lesser extent committed a previous violent crime and they were younger at the time of the homicide. Parents, who were interviewed, were very emotionally involved in their adult sons, although they were not living together. Ignorance regarding the diagnosis of their son and his criminality negatively influenced the contacts, both between parent and son and between parent and professionals in psychiatry. However, the referral to forensic psychiatric treatment gave the parents hope for a positive development.

The purpose of this study is to from a client point of view study the release process. The first issue is which positive and negative aspects on the release situations that are revealed trough the interviews. The second issue is which changes that are needed to improve the conditions for the release work to be crime preventive. The study has been performed by means of qualitative interviews with clients, and one person with a long professional experience of treatment of offenders. The results show that the release work has generally not been successful. This is, according to the clients, due to a lack of cooperation between the client and the authorities. The clients also mean that their own motivation is the base for change, but that they may need help to mobilize the motivation. The next step is to se to that the soberness and the motivation obtained during the time in prison is not destroyed shortly after release. This is a significant risk that has been described both in previous research and by the interviewees. It is a paradox to from one day as institutionalised to the next day as released be expected to take responsibility for all aspects of life. The release process is not finished when the prisoner leaves the prison. The subsequent release work needs to be improved. A possibility that came up during the interviews is to set up a post-release system in the form of apartments owned by the local authorities. Crime is a symptom of both social system problems and personal problems. However, both the previous research and the result of this study show a tendency that the client’s will to change often meets hinders caused by the social systems. It is on the social system level that improvements in the first place are needed. / Syftet med studien är att ur klientperspektiv studera frigivningssituationen. Första frågeställningen är vilka positiva och/eller negativa omständigheter som kommer fram om frigivningsarbetet. Den andra frågeställningen är vad som behöver förändras för att skapa bättre förutsättningar för att frigivningsarbetet ska förebygga återfall i brott. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med klienter samt en person med lång yrkeserfarenhet inom kriminalvården. Resultatet visar att frigivningsarbetet inte fungerat tillfredsställande. Detta har enligt klienterna sin grund i bristande samverkan mellan klient, Kriminalvård och övriga samhällsaktörer. Klienterna menar även att deras egen vilja är grunden för förändring men att det kan behövas hjälp att väcka den. Nästa steg är att se till att den nykterhet och vilja som uppnåtts under anstaltstiden inte raseras direkt efter frigivningen. Detta är en reell risk som har beskrivits både i intervjusvaren och i tidigare forskning. Det innebär en paradox att ena dagen vara institutionaliserad intagen till att som frigiven förväntas ta ansvar för sitt liv på alla plan. Frigivningsprocessen är inte avslutad i och med att klienten lämnar anstalten. Det frigivningsarbete som kvarstår behöver förbättras. Ett förslag som presenteras i intervjusvaren är inrättandet av ett mellansystem i form av kommunalägt boende. Kriminalitet är ett symtom på samhällsproblem likväl som det har individuella orsaker. I den tidigare forskningen och i intervjusvaren framtonar dock en bild av hur klientens vilja till förändring hindras av den ram samhällssystemet skapar. Det är i första hand på samhällsnivån som förbättringar behövs.

This study is about inmates, who reflect upon their time in school, their experiences of school and how different things have influenced and affect them later in life. The aim with this study is to examine how different kinds of school related issues have affected the inmates in different ways. The aim is also to look at how school can spot in early years, children within the danger zone and provide for those children, so that they can be helped in different ways and so that they can be able to achieve different in life, not to end up becoming criminals later in life. The main questions in this study are: How did the chosen inmates experience their time in school? Can you by looking at research tell that these persons already in their childhood were children within the danger zone? What kind of school related issues could have contributed to a criminal lifestyle later in life? The result of this study shows that all five have been children within the danger zone. In all five cases there have been school related issues that have affected those men. Issues such as; truancy, bullying, school defection, difficulties of concentrating and reading- and writing disorders. Issues which are to be seen as issues that could lead to a criminal lifestyle later in life.

This thesis, titled “Change, choice and conditions”, is written by Lina Skantze and Bianca Zandén. The study explores the process in which individuals’ attempt to end their criminal career, focusing on the interplay between path of life, choices, and conditions. The method is qualitative, and the empirical material consists of interviews with four young adults that all have experience of criminality. The empirical material is analyzed within a theoretical framework based on social construction, Antonovskys “Sense of coherence, SOC” and Giddens “Structuration theory” as well as existential philosophy. The authors suggest a theoretically and empirically based model illustrating the change process. The model, developed through abduction, suggests that the process in changing ones life radically includes a number of steps such as; distance to everyday life and its habits, existential choices, new conditions, reflection around former situations and experiences, formulating a life story, new habits and routines, new and/or re-established social relationships, orientation towards new goals and a sense of meaning in life, as well as hopes and ideas about the future. The authors conclude that there are no absolute turning points in the lives of the interviewees. Instead change happens in a complex process best described as incremental, consisting of small – and sometimes incoherent – steps. However, certain situations during the process are crucial and offer opportunity for fundamental existential choices.

Psychopathy is found in incarcerated populations and in the general population, among men and women. This study investigated if there were any gender differences between men and women with heightened levels of psychopathic traits regarding psychopathy factor scores, criminality, aggression and victimization. A randomized sample of 2500 mixed-sex (52.6 % women) participants (M=22.15; SD=1.38) from the general population, aged 20-24, was used. Results showed that women with psychopathic personality traits had significantly higher behavioral tendencies (e.g., impulsivity) on psychopathy than men with psychopathic personality traits. Men scored higher on violent criminal offences and criminal versatility and men and women differed in aggressive behavior and victimization. Gender differences in psychopathy features may create different needs for treatment. / Personer med psykopati finns både bland kliniska populationer och bland normalpopulationen, bland män och kvinnor. Den här studien undersökte om det fanns könsskillnader mellan män och kvinnor med förhöjda nivåer av psykopatiska drag när det gäller psykopatifaktorer, kriminalitet, aggression och utsatthet. Ett slumpmässigt urval från normalpopulationen med både män och kvinnor (52,6 %), ålder 20-24 år (M=22,15; SD=1,38), användes. Resultaten visade att kvinnor med psykopatiska egenskaper har signifikant högre beteendemässiga drag av psykopati än män med psykopatiska egenskaper. Män uppvisade högre nivåer av våldsam kriminalitet och mångfald i brott. Män och kvinnor med psykopatisk personlighet uppvisade olika aggressiva beteenden och rapporterade olika typer av utsatthet. Könsskillnader i psykopatiska egenskaper kan skapa olika behov av behandling.

Vad motiverar en kriminellt belastad person att bryta sin brottsliga bana och söka psykoterapi som en del av den processen? Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att öka förståelsen för psykoterapins plats i en identitetsförändringsprocess. Frågeställningarna som studien vill undersöka är: tidigare kriminellas motiv till att söka psykoterapi, deras förväntningar på vad psykoterapin ska hjälpa dem med, samt skäl för att ta avstånd ifrån eller återgå till ett kriminellt liv. Studien är en kvalitativ, explorativ undersökning som utgår ifrån intervjuer med fyra personer som själva har sökt psykoterapi efter avtjänade fängelsestraff. Resultatet visar att motiven för att lämna kriminaliteten var primärt de anhöriga, en vilja att inte förlora mer relationer, tid, arbete och boende, en rädsla för att dö samt en ökad personlig mognad. De har valt att gå i psykoterapi för att få hjälp att stoppa sitt kriminella beteende genom kontroll och prevention. Vidare att få bearbeta sina tidigare upplevelser och känslor samt få hjälp med återanpassningen till samhället; bli rehabiliterade. Psykoterapin påverkade och stärkte identitetsförändringsprocessen. Motiven för att tidigare välja kriminalitet var ett behov av att slippa ångest, maktlöshet, frustration, utsatthet och stämpling. Ytterligare skäl var få känna kicken, välbehaget och gemenskapen. Slutsatserna är att för att en förändring ska vara möjlig behöver den kriminella identiteten vara uppluckrad varför behandling under anstaltstiden sällan blir verksam. Det kriminella, mot förändringen konkurrerande, normsystemet behöver vara tillräckligt försvagat. Psykoterapin och psykoterapeutens plats i en identitetsförändringsprocess blir att vara ett stöd i den mest sköra fasen, i det vakum som uppstår när sociala band i övrigt är svaga och den nya identiteten ännu inte är tillräckligt stadigt förankrad. Den känslomässiga kopplingen till de behov och känslor som kämpar emot varandra i förändringsprocessen behöver benämnas och bearbetas.

The pedagogical, psychological scientific literature about the problems of children at risk are analyzed, the results of children’s at risk attitude to the criminality and recommendations for the crime prevention programs are presented in this study. The study aimed to investigate the attitude of children at risk to the criminality. There were 98 subjects - children’s at risk (60 perc. – Female; 40 perc. – Male). The method of investigation is questionnaire. The results of study: children at risk understand the concept of crime as single crimes (theft, snatch, murder and etc.) or evaluate the concept as „bad“ or „very bad“. The children at risk have an opinion that the numbers of crimes are higher in the society neither among their peers. 30 perc. of children at risk have made a crime, 51 perc. of children have friends who have made crimes. 62 perc. of children at risk who have made crimes have never been punished for it. The opinion of children at risk to the criminality depends on the category of crime. The children at risk have more positive opinion to the theft, snatch, larceny, having illegal guns, fraud, hooliganism, breaking of traffic rules, neither to the crimes like mayhem, sexual violence, murder, crimes connected to the drugs or racket. The differences are statistically significant. The children at risk make proposals for the youth crime prevention. In their opinions the most useful methods for the crime prevention are leisure time occupations and discussions... [to full text]