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Fostran till rättskänsla?
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Department of Social Sciences. Linnéuniversitetet.
2016 (Swedish)In: Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, ISSN 1104-1420, E-ISSN 2003-5624, Vol. 23, no 2, p. 151-171Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Education to achieve a sense of justice?

Unwanted actions in Swedish compulsory schools, such as violent and threatening behaviour, occur among children, and school-related reports to the police concerning children under the age of criminal responsibility have increased. There are no specific regulations stating that the police must be contacted when a child hits or threatens other children in school. However, school staff are obliged to report concerns about children’s well-being to social services. In Swedish compulsory schools, it is usually the school principal who decides whether an incident should be reported to the police. In this article seventeen interviews with principals about their attitudes to school-related reports to the police are analysed, focusing on children aged 7–14 who subject other children to violent and threatening acts in school. If children under the age of 15 are alleged to have committed crimes, they are diverted from the justice system to the welfare system, i.e. the social services. In most cases a report to the police of a child under 15 suspected of crime leads to a referral by the police to the social services with concern for a child at risk. Results demonstrate that principals differ considerably in assessing which acts are to be regarded as suspected crimes and at what minimum age a report should be made to the police. This suggests that the same unwanted action can be met with completely different reactions from the adult world in different schools. Some principals said that they report incidents among minors to highlight their concern about the welfare of the suspected child, having previously repeatedly expressed concerns to social services and sometimes to parents, without seeing any measures taken to prevent the child from continuing to commit unwanted actions in school.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 23, no 2, p. 151-171
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-5769OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-5769DiVA, id: diva2:1072676
Available from: 2017-02-08 Created: 2017-02-08 Last updated: 2022-05-10Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Polisanmälningar i grundskolan
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Polisanmälningar i grundskolan
2017 (Swedish)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Alternative title[en]
Police-Reported School Violence in Sweden
Abstract [en]

This thesis is about police reports concerning school violence in Sweden involving children below the age of criminal responsibility. Police reports about incidents caused by pupils in Swedish compulsory schools have increased since at least the 1980s. In research on violent, threatening and insulting acts among children in schools, incidence and causes are often studied in terms of bullying and degrading treatment. Criminological studies on children's violent acts, in schools, is mainly based on information on children aged 15 and over. Research on why police reports are filed about younger children in compulsory schools is limited. The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse school-related police reports, in relation to children’s unwanted actions in compulsory schools with the goal of understanding the intentionality in every day practice. The empirical material consists of four studies of which three have been conducted using qualitative methods through analysing legal documents, using content analysis of texts in school-related police reports and interviews with Principals. The fourth study has been carried out with statistical analysis of school-related police reports. The results of the studies are presented in four papers. This thesis takes the approach from modern sociology which is used both as perspectives and theory. The perspectives concern modernity, social control and cultural sensitivity. The theoretical framework is based on theory of systems and lifeworld. The concluding analysis shows local differences in the assessments on which action will be reported to the police. It is mainly Principals who make reports to the police but also parents. Principals’ police reports are based on social commitment and early intervention and parents report concern about repeated school bullying of their children. Despite diverse local practices certain patterns appear. Boys in the 13-14 years age group are the ones most often seen as perpetrators in the police reports. Two particularly prominent patterns become visible at the school level. Most police reports are related to schools with low grades and to so-called resource schools. This indicates that the unwanted actions of disadvantaged children are more often reported to the police than the actions of other children. The filing of police reports can be understood as a result of difficulties among adults to reach common understanding on how children’s problems should be handled in school systems everyday practice.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Växjö: Linnaeus University Press, 2017. p. 171
Series
Linnaeus University Dissertations ; 280/2017
Keywords
Children, Police-report, Compulsory school, Modernity, Social systems, Cultural sensitivity, Pedagogical tool, Social work
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-5881 (URN)9789188357656 (ISBN)
Public defence
2017-04-07, Weber, Hus K, Växjö, 10:15 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2017-03-28 Created: 2017-03-28 Last updated: 2022-11-02Bibliographically approved

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Vainik, Anne-Lie

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