Narcotics and Lethal Violence: Exploring the Organizational Structures of Organized Crime in Sweden

Abstract

Prior to a few years ago, Sweden was known for having relatively low levels of lethal violence in Europe. However, since the early 2000s, the level of lethal violence in Sweden has increased and is now higher than many other countries. The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of narcotics in the increased deadly violence within organized crime in Sweden and how the organizational dimensions look like in these criminal networks. The theoretical framework set out a conceptual framework and expand upon situational approaches and crime scripts as com-prehensive tools for examining organized crime at a crime-specific level of analysis. A case study was be used as the research method. The findings suggest that narcotics play a significant role in the rise of gun violence in Sweden as a result of a monopolistic drive from the criminal network. Despite the loose structure of the criminal networks, there is a level of organization that facilitates the trade of weapons and stolen vehicles and enables collaboration with other criminal networks to access targets more easily.