Learning from social outreach workers- A study of crime prevention among children in the county of Stockholm

Abstract: Currently, there is an increased societal focus on youth criminality and also a growing popularity of municipal social outreach work as a countermeasure of it. The purpose of this study is therefore to elucidate social outreach workers' experience of their work with children through a crime preventative perspective, to expound upon their role in crime prevention and to highlight the emotional aspects and challenges in their work. Nine interviews with 14 different social outreach workers within the county of Stockholm have been conducted. Through incorporating the researcher´s own inside experience from working as a social outreach worker, the study also aims to provide a greater phenomenological understanding of social outreach work. By drawing upon a theoretical framework of street-level bureaucracy and empowerment, this study concludes that social outreach workers experience themselves as relationship making actors who conduct covert crime prevention, mainly through the use of social crime prevention. In doing so, they also fulfill different important functions in societal crime prevention. However, there is a discrepancy between how social outreach workers experience their work and outside actors´ expectations on how social outreach workers should work. Although there has been an emphasis on social outreach work and investments made in implementing social outreach workers, this study finds a mutual experience among the participants that they are not being heard. This study therefore contributes to raising the voice of social outreach workers and to share their experiences.