Den segregerade skolan i frontlinjen mot brottslighet - En kvalitativ intervjustudie om högstadielärares roll i brottsbekämpningen

Abstract

Since the 1990s, Swedish schools have been increasingly shaped by a juridification discourse emphasizing stronger measures against youth delinquency - a development reflecting a broader global educational policy trend advocating tougher responses to youth crime. Parallel to this, a social pedagogical discourse underscores the school’s educational and formative mission as a crime- preventive force in itself. Both discourses position the school as a central actor in crime prevention. The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers perceive and navigate the tension between these two competing discourses. The study focuses on schools located in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and draws upon Hirschi’s theory of social bonds and Bourdieu’s theory of capital to analyze the findings. Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with four teachers and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results suggest that teachers adopt a compensatory role in response to students’ limited access to social and cultural capital - conditions shaped by structural segregation and identified as risk factors for delinquency. By building trust, fostering students’ moral reasoning, and promoting their understanding of societal institutions, teachers aim to strengthen students’ resilience against criminal influences. At the same time, teachers express ambivalence toward the school’s increasing juridification: while collaboration with authorities is seen as a support rather than a burden, it also risks eroding the trust central to their educational and compensatory mission. This tension places teachers in moral dilemmas as they balance their duty to report concerns with the need to preserve trust in their relationships with students. Moreover, the results points to broader structural challenges - such as inequality and lack of integration - that reinforce the school’s position as a frontline actor in crime prevention.