I uppsatsen undersöks vilka svårigheter en före detta kriminell möter längs vägen vid återanpassning till samhället. Går det att tvätta bort en stämpel som avvikare och hur påverkar stigmatiseringen deras liv. Vi vill alltså lyfta fram hur före detta kriminella upplever vägen tillbaka in i samhället och möjligheterna till ett normalt liv. Uppsatsen studeras med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod för att på bästa sätt få en förståelse för en före detta kriminells egna tankar och upplevelser kring processen att bygga upp ett nytt liv. Det insamlade materialet bygger på intervjuer med två livsberättelser, en nyckelinformant och kompletteras vidare med ett case. Resultatet som framkom i studien med hjälp av de empiriska material och den teoretiska utgångspunkt är att det är möjligt för en kriminell att tvätta bort en stämpel som avvikare och lyckas med det omöjliga. Det är möjligt att återanpassa sig till samhället och leva ett normalt liv. / In this thesis we examine the challenges that former criminals face when readapting to society. Is it possible to escape being branded as a deviant and how does the branding affect their lives. We wish to raise the issue of returning to society and a non-criminal lifestyle. The study is conducted through a quality survey/method to get the best possible understandning of a former criminal´s own thoughts and experiences when rebulding his life. The compiled data relies on two life stories, a key informant and a cese study. The results of the study are based n empirical data and show that it is possible to escape the branding as a criminal and succeed in becoming readjusted to society and a normal life.

This thesis is set within a framework of the revivalist Christians’ Inner Mission, and presents as a case-study their mission to conscripts stationed in military exercise areas and garrison towns across Sweden. The revivalists’ evangelical zeal is given special attention. This is in contrast to much of the earlier research, which worked with the secularization paradigm formulated by the founders of sociology. Conscription in the early 20th century was regarded in various civilian and military circles as a platform for social and national integration, although these attitudes remain largely unstudied in Sweden’s case. Those engaged in missionizing the army were also drawn to this ‘School of the Nation’. The thesis shows that the motives of those involved in this home mission to soldiers were grounded in religion. However, the expansive missionary work was strengthened by the positions held by its male protagonists in the power structures of society. The mission was maintained by social contacts between an informal alliance of upper-class officers from among the mission’s military members, and by civilian missionaries from lower social classes. A decisive contextual factor for the army-mission as an educational project was that Sweden remained at peace. The civilian contribution to the mission grew as it spread more widely through the country. It is argued in this thesis that the soldiers’ homes were dominated by a discourse of domesticity. This discourse designated a place, a relationship, and a state of mind for the conscript during his free time at the military base. The missionaries were convinced that contact with the domestic and family values of civilian society should be preserved by the soldiers’ homes. The discourse of domesticity also looked ahead to the conscript’s subsequent life in civilian society: the missionaries wished to train up conscripts to be sober, moral family breadwinners.