Ingen stoppade oss. Vi levde tidigt i en egen värld med egna regler : En kvalitativ studie om vad som kan påverka vägen in i kriminalitet

Abstract: The reasons why people choose to access the criminal world are complex and sometimes hard to understand. The lack of understanding and knowledge within this subject leads to problems when it comes to preventing crime. The aim of this study was therefore to explore and understand how the individuals end up in criminal activity, based on a qualitative study of subjective stories. For this study we chose a qualitative method in terms of a thematic analysis. We have analyzed four autobiographies written by former criminals, where they describe their path, and how they ended up in the criminal world. In our analysis we applied two classical criminological theories: the theory of social bonds by Travis Hirschi and the theory of differential associations by David Sutherland interpreted by Mats Hilte and Ross L. Matsuedas, to embellish how the individuals are affected by those factors. This study found that the development in childhood, school environment, socio-economic background, and alienation contain risks as well as protective factors for the individual in relation to the development of criminal behavior. The circumstances in the risk- and protective factors are crucial. The result shows that the various factors have played a different role depending on the context of the individuals and how they handled the feelings and experiences in their lives. It is not possible to identify one sole triggering factor in the stories since the riskfactors have together contributed to the emergence of their criminal behavior. This study has therefore attempted to justify that criminality is a complex phenomenon, which cannot be explained by a single factor.