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Det är lätt att ta någons frihet men svårt att ge tillbaka den
: En studie om vägen ut ur kriminalitet

Translated title of the thesis: Taking someone´s freedom away is easy, but giving it back is hard: a study of desistance
  • Linn Björåker
  • Matilda Johanson
  • Ida Knutson

Student thesis: Bachelor

Abstract

Drawing on qualitative interviews with eight Swedish ex-criminals, this study examines how former prisoners describes the path in and out of crime, with special interest on their experience of prison as a punitive and rehabilitating intervention. Using a thematic analysis, this study cast light on human agency and will in combination with constraining as well as enabling structures. The study identified multiple constraining structures where the gap between prison and society was a returning constraint pattern in their experience of desistance. The empirical findings shows that, in order to understand how a beneficial desistance process develops, it is necessary to recognise the close interaction between agency and structure. Consequently, well-functioning “bridges” are required to connect the individual’s own will and capacity for change with supportive social structures, both during and after imprisonment.
Date of Award2026-Jun
Original languageSwedish
SupervisorHanna Edgren (Supervisor) & Annika Rosén (Examiner)

Educational program

  • Higher Education in behavioral science

University credits

  • 15 HE credits

Swedish Standard Keywords

  • Criminology (50406)

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