Vägen ut ur kriminalitet

Abstract

The purpose of our qualitative study was to look more closely at what the process looks like when an individual wants to leave criminality. Our two research questions highlights the meaningful factors to take a step back from criminality, but we also have one question that highlights what kind of support the individual who wants to leave criminality gets. Our main themes are based on experience and events from our seven respondents that work with individuals that wants to leave the criminal life. We analyzed our interviews with a thematic analyze method to answer our questions. To do that, we also used the labeling theory, the theory of social bonds, “turning points”, “desistance” and “knifing off”. The results we got was; the threat is a big contributory factor for a person to make the decision that he/she wants to leave the criminal life, but the family was also a contributory factor. However, the friendship circle and a normal job are some obstacles that could block the process of leaving criminality. Furthermore, the age of an individual seemed to affect the reasons why they wanted to leave the criminal life but also what kind of support they could get.