Victim offender mediation is practiced to less extent in Sweden despite the method being a statutory municipal obligation. Recommendations from the existing research is to investigate the identified problems of mediation. In the first part of this qualitative study an integrative literature study has been applied to existing research on the experiences of professional mediators. The second part of the study is conducted through interviews with politicians with emphasis on the fact that a statutory municipal method is used to less extent while the nation is calling for crime prevention. The results are subsequently analyzed from organizational theory and new public management theory. The results show that there are uncertainties about the mediator's position in the legal system, indicating a discrepancy between the legislature´s intention and the social regulation and the practical activities, thus indicating existing exclusion processes within the mediation system. The results of the study also show that the legislation needs to be modified as to meet the need of social work with youth offenders. The increased debate regarding juvenile delinquency and the demand of punitive policies has created a polarization in society where the attitudes and knowledge of victim offender mediation as a method are disparate thus creating the paradox of calling out for new methods contrary using existing ones that are evaluated, implemented and legislated, such as victim offender mediation.

Crime and deadly violence have increased in Sweden in recent years. Victims and perpetrators have become younger and research shows that the majority of crimes committed in society today are committed by young men (Estrada, 2022). Why some people choose a criminal lifestyle of violence and crime is a question many often ask. The purpose of the study was therefore to investigate which factors protect and which factors increase the risk of criminal behavior in a child. I chose to do a theoretical thematic literature study of two books in order to investigate which risk and protective factors I could find that influence a person to become criminal or not criminal. The study was based on previous research of risk and protective factors and two selected books which are Nicola Lunabba's autobiography Will you be sad if I die? (2022) and Gangster life: crimes, the gang and life on the street (2021) written by Jacob Härnqvist. The research results of the study showed that there are several risk factors for a child to develop criminal behavior and examples of these are growing up with a weak economy, abuse,violence, lack of love and support and difficulties in controlling their aggression. The result also showed the importance of protective factors and that these in turn can be feelings of support and love, good relationships, routines and interests and future plans. The study also showed how deviant behavior in a child at an early age often has an increased risk of continuing into adulthood, which means that one should work preventively against crime in the child's early age. At the same time, the study showed that the reason why a child develops criminal behavior is complicated and is caused by a variety of factors that interact at the child's different levels. It is therefore not possible to give a concrete answer as to why a child develops criminal behaviour, but is instead based on the child's environment, characteristics and risk and protective factors.

Syftet med denna studie är att ge en bild av hur socialarbetare inom socialtjänsten ser på och arbetar med förtroende gentemot unga lagöverträdare. Studien har sin utgångspunkt i fyra kvalitativa semistrukturerade fokusgruppsintervjuer med socialarbetare som arbetar behandlande eller med insatser gentemot unga lagöverträdare inom Södertäljes kommuns socialtjänst. Bearbetningen av empirin har sin utgångspunkt i en tematisk analys med en hermeneutiskt-fenomenologisk analysmetod. Resultaten har analyserats med hjälp av två teoretiska utgångspunkter: Anknytningsteori och systemteori. Studien visar att socialarbetarna behöver vara självmedvetna avseende sina egna föreställningar och sin egna hållning som en utgångspunkt. Genomgående träder genuinitet, ärlighet och transparens fram som viktiga aspekter för att skapa förtroende. Socialarbetaren behöver försöka förstå och vara medveten om den unge lagöverträdarens historia för att sedan använda olika förhållningssätt för att skapa förtroende. Att se bortom den unge lagöverträdarens beteende och visa på ett engagemang genom att finnas där när ungdomen behöver socialarbetaren, gynnar förtroendeskapandet. Socialarbetaren behöver därtill hitta sätt att navigera i sin organisation och använda sig av sina kollegor som stöd i detta komplexa arbete när det kommer till att skapa förtroende gentemot unga lagöverträdare. / The purpose of this study is to give a picture of how social workers in the social service look at and work with trust towards young offenders. The study has its starting point in four qualitative semistructured focus group interviews with social workers who work treating or with interventions towards young offenders within Södertälje municipality's social services. The processing of the empirical data has its starting point in a thematic analysis with a hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis method. The results have been analyzed using two theoretical starting points: Attachment theory and system theory. The study shows that social workers need to be self-aware of their own beliefs and their own attitude as a starting point. Throughout, genuineness, honesty and transparency emerge as important aspects for building trust. The social worker needs to try to understand and be aware of the young offender's history and then use different approaches to build trust. Looking beyond the young offender's behavior and showing a commitment by being there when the young person needs the social worker, benefits the building of trust. The social worker also needs to find ways to navigate their organization and use their colleagues as support in this complex work when it comes to building trust with young offenders.

I denna kandidatuppsats utforskas hur lagstiftningen för unga lagöverträdare mellan 15-17 år som misstänks eller döms för grova brott har förändrats under tidsperioden 1993-2023 ur ett kritiskt barnrättsteoretiskt perspektiv. Under denna tidsperiod ska barnets rättigheter framträda under lagstiftningsprocessen och studiens syfte är att undersöka huruvida barnets rättigheter framkommer vid utvecklingen av nya ungdomspåföljder. Studien belyser den ökade tendensen av lagstiftaren att tillämpa strängare straff som respons på ungdomsbrottslighet och i bekämpandet av kriminella nätverk. Detta  reflekterar ett skifte från fokus på rehabilitering, till allt mer straffande åtgärder med inslag av kontroll och frihetsberövande. Denna studie granskar hur dessa förändringar påverkas av barnets rättigheter enligt FN:s barnkonvention och diskuterar den komplexitet som uppstår när barn misstänks eller döms för grova brott, samt vid utformandet av ungdomspåföljder. Genom riktad kvalitativ innehållsanalys av fyra statliga offentliga utredningar identifierades flera centrala teman, såsom skiftet i ansvarande myndigheter, utveckling av straffsystemets principer, balansen mellan samhällsskydd och rehabilitering, barnkonventionen och barnperspektiv, barnets bästa och barnets behov. Denna studies resultat visar att det har skett en markant ökning av straffande åtgärder, vilket har lett till att unga lagöverträdare i högre grad hamnar inom Kriminalvårdens system snarare än att få stödjande åtgärder från socialtjänsten under senare tid. Detta har resulterat i en förskjutning där samhällsskydd prioriteras framför rehabilitering och barns rättigheter enligt barnkonventionen, där särskilt principen om barnets bästa riskerar att åsidosättas.

Tant dans la littérature criminologique que dans la pratique, il semble y avoir un intérêt grandissant pour les pratiques de justice réparatrice, dont la médiation, comme mesures de rechange à la justice traditionnelle pour faire face à la criminalité, notamment dans les cas de crimes graves. À ce jour, au Québec et au Canada, il n’y a pas de programmes de justice réparatrice offerts aux jeunes contrevenants ayant commis un délit grave, où le jeune pourrait entreprendre un processus de médiation avec la victime. La présente étude porte donc sur les jeunes contrevenants ayant commis un crime grave et sur l’intérêt d’entreprendre une démarche de médiation dans ces cas. Plus précisément, les objectifs de notre étude étaient de déterminer s’il y avait des conditions ou des contre-indications à la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves commis par des jeunes contrevenants. Nous avions aussi comme objectif d’identifier les bienfaits et les limites de la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves tels que perçus par les interviewés rencontrés. Enfin, puisque des médiateurs et des délégués à la jeunesse ont été rencontrés pour l’étude, nous cherchions à déterminer si des différences pouvaient être observées entre ces deux groupes. Nous avons rencontré huit médiateurs et quatre délégués à la jeunesse dans le but de connaître leur point de vue sur le recours à la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves, principalement pour une clientèle de jeunes contrevenants. L’analyse de ces entrevues nous a permis de relever certaines conditions et contre-indications liées à la médiation dans ces cas. Or, malgré la présence de contre-indications, une préparation accrue des victimes et des jeunes contrevenants permettrait tout de même le recours à la médiation dans presque toutes les situations. Dans l’application de la médiation, il s’avère toutefois important d’adapter la démarche aux besoins des parties. / Both in research and in practice pertaining to criminology, it can be observed that there is growing interest in the field of restorative justice practices, such as mediation, as alternatives to the traditional justice in reaction to crime, especially in cases of serious crime. To this day, in Quebec and in Canada, there are no existing restorative justice programs offering measures such as mediation to young offenders having committed a serious crime. This study focuses on young offenders who committed a serious crime and on the pertinence of participating in a mediation process in theses cases. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to determine if there are conditions or counter-indicators to participate in mediation in cases of serious crimes committed by young offenders. Our secondary objective was to determine the advantages and the limits of mediation in cases of serious crime, according to the interviewees met. Finally, because two different types of workers were met, we compared these two groups to determine if differences could be observed in their point of views. We met with eight mediators and four youth workers in order to know more about their point of view concerning the use of mediation in cases of serious crimes, especially those committed by young offenders. Our analysis of the interviews allowed us to determine several conditions and counter-indicators to the use of mediation in these cases. However, even though many counter-indicators were named, it seems that an adequate preparation of both the victim and the offender should allow all cases to be referred to a mediation process. In practice, it is important to adapt the mediation process to the situation and to the needs of both the victim and the offender.

L’Inventaire des risques et des besoins liés aux facteurs criminogènes (IRBC) est un instrument utilisé depuis le début des années 1990 pour évaluer les risques de récidive des jeunes contrevenants québécois. Il est le produit d’une collaboration du Québec avec l’Ontario, survenue dans le cadre de travaux de recherche effectués sur les instruments d’évaluation du risque de récidive des jeunes contrevenants. L’IRBC est donc le seul instrument précisément conçu pour évaluer les risques de récidive des jeunes contrevenants québécois et il n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une démarche visant à tester sa validité prédictive. Le but de ce projet de mémoire est de tester la validité prédictive de l’IRBC. Des analyses de courbes ROC et des analyses de survie ont été utilisées pour tester les propriétés métriques de l’instrument. Ces analyses suggèrent que, dans l’ensemble, l’IRBC arrive à prédire la récidive de façon acceptable. Quatre des huit grands domaines associés à la récidive, communément appelé BIG FOUR, seraient des prédicteurs modérés de la récidive lorsque testés avec les données issues de l’IRBC. Il s’agit des domaines Antécédents, Pairs, Personnalité-Comportements, et Attitudes-Tendances. Des aspects en lien avec la fidélité de l’instrument témoignent toutefois d’irrégularités dans le processus d’évaluation, ce qui interroge le niveau de rigueur maintenu au jour le jour par les professionnels. Des aspects en lien avec la fidélité de l’IRBC demeureraient à investiguer. / The Inventaire des risques et des besoins liés aux facteurs criminogènes (IRBC) is a test used since the early 1990s to assess young offenders’s risk of recidivism in Quebec. It is the product of a collaboration between Quebec and Ontario which occurred in the context of research work on instruments used to evaluate young offenders’s risk of recidivism. The IRBC is the only instrument specifically designed to assess the risk of recidivism of young offenders in Quebec and has never been subject of a predictive validity study. The aim of this master project is to test the predictive validity of the IRBC. ROC curves analysis and survival analysis were used to test the metric properties of the instrument. The results suggest that overall the IRBC is capable of predicting recidivism acceptably. Four of the eight domains associated with criminal recidivism, commonly called BIG FOUR, would be moderate predictors of recidivism when tested with data from the IRBC. These are Antécédents, Pairs, Personnalité-Comportements, and Attitudes-Tendances. However, aspects related to the fidelity of the instrument show irregularities in the assessment process, which questioned the rigor maintained daily by professionals. Aspects related to the fidelity of the IRBC would remain to be investigated.

The aim of our study is to gain increased knowledge and understanding of how young people who has been sentenced to closed institutional care experience their own possibility to participate and influence the transition and aftercare, and which, if any, importance they believe this has for their readjustment to society. The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consist of interviews with four young persons, of which three, at the time for our interviews, where in the transitionphase, and one had left the institution a few years ago. The study’s theoretical framework is based on Erving Goffmans theory about stigma and the empowerment theory. We have also used earlier studies within the area to understand and interpret our data. The result indicates deficits in terms of the young people’s possibility to participate and influence the planning and implemantation of the transition from the special home of closed institutional youth care.  The youths express a wish to be more involved and be able to influence more, yet at the same time there seems to be an acceptance among the youths concerning the fact that they are not given the possibility to participate, which can be related to a view of themselves as less worthy.

Tant dans la littérature criminologique que dans la pratique, il semble y avoir un intérêt grandissant pour les pratiques de justice réparatrice, dont la médiation, comme mesures de rechange à la justice traditionnelle pour faire face à la criminalité, notamment dans les cas de crimes graves. À ce jour, au Québec et au Canada, il n’y a pas de programmes de justice réparatrice offerts aux jeunes contrevenants ayant commis un délit grave, où le jeune pourrait entreprendre un processus de médiation avec la victime. La présente étude porte donc sur les jeunes contrevenants ayant commis un crime grave et sur l’intérêt d’entreprendre une démarche de médiation dans ces cas. Plus précisément, les objectifs de notre étude étaient de déterminer s’il y avait des conditions ou des contre-indications à la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves commis par des jeunes contrevenants. Nous avions aussi comme objectif d’identifier les bienfaits et les limites de la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves tels que perçus par les interviewés rencontrés. Enfin, puisque des médiateurs et des délégués à la jeunesse ont été rencontrés pour l’étude, nous cherchions à déterminer si des différences pouvaient être observées entre ces deux groupes. Nous avons rencontré huit médiateurs et quatre délégués à la jeunesse dans le but de connaître leur point de vue sur le recours à la médiation dans les cas de crimes graves, principalement pour une clientèle de jeunes contrevenants. L’analyse de ces entrevues nous a permis de relever certaines conditions et contre-indications liées à la médiation dans ces cas. Or, malgré la présence de contre-indications, une préparation accrue des victimes et des jeunes contrevenants permettrait tout de même le recours à la médiation dans presque toutes les situations. Dans l’application de la médiation, il s’avère toutefois important d’adapter la démarche aux besoins des parties. / Both in research and in practice pertaining to criminology, it can be observed that there is growing interest in the field of restorative justice practices, such as mediation, as alternatives to the traditional justice in reaction to crime, especially in cases of serious crime. To this day, in Quebec and in Canada, there are no existing restorative justice programs offering measures such as mediation to young offenders having committed a serious crime. This study focuses on young offenders who committed a serious crime and on the pertinence of participating in a mediation process in theses cases. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to determine if there are conditions or counter-indicators to participate in mediation in cases of serious crimes committed by young offenders. Our secondary objective was to determine the advantages and the limits of mediation in cases of serious crime, according to the interviewees met. Finally, because two different types of workers were met, we compared these two groups to determine if differences could be observed in their point of views. We met with eight mediators and four youth workers in order to know more about their point of view concerning the use of mediation in cases of serious crimes, especially those committed by young offenders. Our analysis of the interviews allowed us to determine several conditions and counter-indicators to the use of mediation in these cases. However, even though many counter-indicators were named, it seems that an adequate preparation of both the victim and the offender should allow all cases to be referred to a mediation process. In practice, it is important to adapt the mediation process to the situation and to the needs of both the victim and the offender.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Retido.pdf: 19733 bytes, checksum: 6aad255badc436a06364517de2344ab6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-21 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / According to researchers, adolescence has been considered a risk age group for various mental health problems, such as: depression, behavioral problems and substance abuse. However, only a few Brazilian studies investigate mental health problems among young offenders, although the international literature agrees on the fact that juvenile offenders suffer from various mental health problems. Besides mental health, studies indicate that self-esteem, social support and parenting can also affect adolescents behavior and development. The aim of the present study was to identify the profile of male young offenders in treatment and also to identify correlations between levels of mental health, self-esteem, social support and parenting and correlations between these elements and other profile variables, such as age, education levels, substance abuse, among others. Another objective was to identify the adolescents perception of themselves, their difficulties and positive characteristics, their help resources and plans for their future. Fifty adolescents took part in the study. They answered a semi-structured interview and completed the following instruments: Identification Questionnnaire; Young Offenders Profile; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Social Support Appraisals, Parenting Inventory and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The scores were calculated according to each instrument. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to identify possible correlations between the scores of these instruments and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to verify possible correlations between the scores of the instruments and the adolescents profile variables. The interview analysis has been carried out through the Content Analysis. The main results indicated that most of the adolescents have low education levels and use marijuana, besides having friends who also use drugs. High selfesteem levels could be observed in this sample. Besides, it was possible to verify that levels of education, social support from teachers and positive parenting might be protection factors against vulnerable behavior, once it was possible to identify negative correlation between social support from teachers and use of cocaine and negative correlations between positive monitoring and recidivism and alcohol abuse, which indicates that the more the adolescents parents perform positive parenting, the lower the recidivism and alcohol abuse levels. We expect that this study can contribute to the planning and implementation of public actions aiming the treatment of young offenders. / De acordo com pesquisadores da área, a adolescência tem sido considerada uma faixa etária de risco para a aquisição de diversos problemas de saúde mental, dentre eles: depressão, transtornos de conduta e abuso de drogas. Entretanto, poucos estudos brasileiros se dedicam ao rastreamento de problemas de saúde mental entre adolescentes infratores, ainda que a literatura internacional seja convergente no entendimento de que adolescentes infratores apresentam diversos problemas de saúde mental. Além da saúde mental, estudos tem indicado que a auto estima, o suporte social e os estilos parentais podem influenciar o desenvolvimento e comportamento dos adolescentes. O presente trabalho objetivou identificar o perfil sociodemográfico de adolescentes do sexo masculino cumprindo medidas sócio-educativas em meio aberto e possíveis correlações entre níveis de saúde mental, auto-estima, suporte social e estilos parentais de seus responsáveis, além de correlações entre estes elementos e variáveis contextuais do adolescente, tais como idade, escolaridade, uso de substâncias, entre outros. Outro objetivo estabelecido foi identificar as percepções dos adolescentes com relação a si mesmos, suas dificuldades e facilidades, seus recursos de ajuda e seus planos futuros. Participaram do estudo 50 adolescentes em cumprimento de medidas sócio-educativas que responderam a uma entrevista semi-estruturada e aos seguintes instrumentos: Questionário de identificação do Adolescente; Perfil Sócio-demográfico, Infracional e Relacional de Adolescentes em Conflito com a Lei; Escala de Auto-Estima de Rosenberg; Questionário de Suporte Social para Crianças e Adolescentes; Inventário de Estilos Parentais e Questionário de Capacidades e Dificuldades. Os escores foram calculados de acordo com as planilhas de cálculo de cada instrumento. O Coeficiente de Correlação de Pearson foi utilizado para verificar possíveis correlações entre os escores destes instrumentos e o Coeficiente de Correlação de Spearman foi utilizado para verificar possíveis correlações entre os níveis de saúde mental, suporte social, auto-estima e estilos parentais e as variáveis contextuais dos adolescentes. A análise das entrevistas foi feita de acordo com a Análise de Conteúdo. Os principais resultados indicaram que a maioria dos adolescentes apresentavam baixa escolaridade e usavam maconha, além de possuir amigos que faziam uso de drogas ilícitas. Altos níveis de auto-estima puderam ser observados entre os adolescentes. Além disso, pôdese observar que a escolaridade, o suporte social dos professores e práticas parentais positivas pareceram ser fatores de proteção contra comportamentos vulneráveis, uma vez que se identificou correlação negativa entre suporte social de professores e uso de cocaína e correlações negativas entre a prática educativa de monitoria positiva e reincidência e uso de álcool, que indica que quanto maiores as práticas educativas de monitoria positiva, menores os índices de reincidência e de consumo de álcool apresentados pelos adolescentes. Espera-se que este estudo possa contribuir para o planejamento e a implementação de políticas públicas voltadas ao atendimento de jovens em conflito com a lei.

Les jeunes contrevenants présentent une forte prévalence de troubles mentaux en comparaison des adolescents de la population générale. Il semble qu’une large partie d’entre eux ne reçoivent pas les services et traitements appropriés à leurs conditions mentales, souvent faute de dépistage. Un outil de dépistage semble s’imposer comme un incontournable aux États-Unis et à travers le monde auprès des jeunes contrevenants : le Massachussets Youth Screening Instrument – second version (MAYSI-2). Une version adaptée pour les francophones du Québec est en usage clinique depuis 2016 mais n’a fait l’objet d’aucune étude de validation jusqu’à présent. L’objectif de notre étude est de valider la structure factorielle de la version francophone pour le Québec du MAYSI-2 à partir des données recueillies au sein d’un échantillon d’adolescents québécois hébergés dans des unités pour jeunes contrevenants (N=962). Pour ce faire nous avons analysé la consistance interne de l’instrument et de ses différentes sous-échelles. Nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse factorielle confirmatoire afin de tester la structure des dimensions et une analyse factorielle confirmatoire multigroupes afin de tester la robustesse des solutions en fonction du genre (garçon : N= 880 -fille : N= 82) et du statut légal (Loi du système de justice pénale pour adolescents, N = 741 et placement en encadrement intensif, N= 207). Nos résultats indiquent que la consistance interne des échelles est bonne pour cinq des sept échelles (Alpha entre 0,704 et 0,805), satisfaisantes pour l’échelle des expériences traumatiques (Alpha de 0,603) et sous les standards pour l’échelle des troubles de la pensée (Alpha de 0,480). Les résultats de l’analyse factorielle confirmatoire indiquent que l’adéquation du modèle factoriel à sept facteurs est au-delà des critères de satisfaction (erreur type de l’approximation (RMSEA) = 0,041, indice de Tucker et Lewis (TLI) = 0,911 et indice d’ajustement comparatif (CFI) = 0,905). Nos mesures de l’invariance de la structure factorielle entre les sous-groupes nous indiquent que le modèle à sept facteurs est une solution satisfaisante pour l’ensemble des sous-groupes de notre étude. Pris dans leur ensemble, nos résultats confirment la validité factorielle de la version francophone pour le Québec du MAYSI-2. Ces résultats soutiennent la pertinence d’implanter plus largement au Québec l’outil MAYSI-2 comme outil de dépistage à utiliser systématiquement auprès des jeunes contrevenants. / Youth offenders have a high prevalence of mental disorders compared to adolescents in the general population. It seems that a large proportion of them do not receive the appropriate services and treatments for their mental conditions, often due to a lack of screening. The Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument – second version (MAYSI-2) appears to be a key screening tool for youth offenders in the United States and around the world. A version adapted for Francophones in Quebec has been in clinical use since 2016 but has not been the subject of any validation so far. The objective of our study is to validate the factorial structure of the French- version of the MAYSI-2 for French speaking adolescent in Quebec based on data collected from a sample of adolescent housed in units for youth offenders (N=962). To do this, we analysed the internal consistency of the instrument and its various sub-scales. We then carried out a confirmatory factor analysis to test the structure of the dimensions and a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to examine the robustness of the solutions according to gender (boy: N= 880 -girl: N= 82) and legal status (LSJPA, N = 741 and Intensive Supervision, N = 207). Our results indicate that the internal consistency of the scales is reliable for five of the seven scales (Alpha between 0.704 and 0.805), satisfactory for the scale of traumatic experiences (Alpha of 0,603) and below the standards for the scale of thought disturbance (Alpha of 0,480). Confirmatory factor analysis results indicate that the fit of the seven-factor model is beyond the satisfaction criteria (root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.041, Tucker and Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.911 and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0,905). Our measures of the invariance of the factor structure between subgroups indicates that the seven-factor model is a satisfactory solution for all subgroups in our study. Taken as a whole, our results confirm the factorial validity of the French-version of the MAYSI-2 for French speaking adolescent in Quebec. These results support the relevance of implementing the French version of the MAYSI-2 tool more widely as a screening tool to be used systematically with French speaking young offenders in Quebec.