Anders Nilsson

Living Conditions, Social Exclusion and Recidivism Among Prison Inmates

This article examines the importance of living conditions for recidivism following release from prison. How do resource deficiencies in different welfare‐related areas, such as education, employment, the financial situation, housing, social relations and health, affect the risk for recidivism? How important are deficiencies of this kind by comparison with known risk factors associated with levels of previous involvement in crime? The analyses are based on a representative sample of Swedish prison inmates (n=346). Data on their living conditions were collected at interview and were then linked to data on reoffending within three years of release from prison. The findings show inter alia that problems relating to education and employment, but above all an accumulation of different types of resource problems, are clearly correlated with recidivism. They show further that the effect of living conditions and resource deficiencies on reoffending is primarily felt by those who at the time of interview had not previously served time in prison. One possible interpretation looks to different risk factors to explain the onset and continuation of a criminal career. A prison term serves to reduce the opportunities to lead a conventional life – with a legitimate income – and thereby contributes to marginalisation and social exclusion.

The Inequality of Victimization Trends in Exposure to Crime among Rich and Poor

Over the past decade, western societies have witnessed an increasing divergence in living standards of different social groups. This article examines whether increasing differences in living conditions are reflected in increasing inequality of victimization. Using data from Statistics Swedens Surveys of Living Conditions (1984–2001) the study shows that exposure to crimes of theft and violence has followed different trends for poorly resourced and well-resourced groups respectively. The proportion experiencing victimization, first and foremost in the form of violence and threats but also to some extent in the form of residential burglaries, is significantly greater among the poor than among the rich. Furthermore, the difference between these two groups has become greater.

Violence at Work—The Emergence of a Social Problem

This article analyses trends in violence at work on the basis of victim surveys, work-environment surveys, and press material. It proceeds from the two most common explanations of why violence at work appears to have increased over recent decades. These emphasize shifts in working conditions that have increased employees victimization risk, and a broadened view of what is regarded as work-related violence. The empirical analyses provide support for both these explanations, and the various dimensions examined—increased reporting propensities, expanded definitions, a reduced tolerance of violence, and altered working conditions—are linked to one another.

Established or excluded? A longitudinal study of criminality, work and family formation

In this article we explore the longer-term implications of criminality. We look at different groups in a birth cohort defined on the basis of their level of involvement in crime. To what extent is juvenile and adult crime related to social exclusion in mid-life? We study differences in outcomes related to work and family, and whether these differences tend to grow or diminish over time. We employ a new longitudinal data set, The Stockholm Birth Cohort Study, which provides rich and unique life-course data from birth to age 48 for 14,294 girls and boys. Our results show that criminal involvement in adulthood has a negative long-term impact on the individual’s life course and career opportunities, even after having controlled for childhood conditions and drug abuse.

Long-term consequences of being not in employment, education or training as a young adult. Stability and change in three Swedish birth cohorts

ABSTRACT In this article we analyse the development of young adults not in education, employment or training (NEET) in three complete Swedish birth cohorts born in 1975, 1980 and 1985. We analyse the risk for future labour-market exclusion among NEETs, and how this risk varies between three birth cohorts who made the transition from school to work during periods characterised by different opportunity structures for young adults. Analyses using propensity score matching with repeated outcomes show that belonging to the NEET-group in early adulthood has an independent effect on the development of subsequent labour-market risk for both men and women. Moreover, this effect increases across the cohorts. The fact that the degree of labour-market attachment has clear and long-lasting implications indicates that the problems associated with being NEET cannot be reduced to a transient phase. Rather, it seems as though being NEET may be both a step on an already unfavourable life career and a triggering factor for social exclusion.

Offending, drug abuse and life chances—a longitudinal study of a Stockholm birth cohort

There are many factors, both empirical and theoretical, which indicate that drug abuse can play an important role in explaining the links between criminality and life chances when viewed from a life-course perspective. In this article, we examine the links between crime and drug abuse and social inclusion and exclusion in adult life, and look at whether there are gender-specific patterns in these regards. The Stockholm Birth Cohort database allows us to follow a birth cohort born in 1953 to age 56. The results show that drug abuse is central both to processes of continuity in and desistance from crime and to life chances in adulthood. For the adult outcomes that relate to work and health, we also note a tendency towards polarization; the size of both the relative and the absolute differences between the comparison group and offenders with registered drug abuse increases over time. The same general pattern can be seen for males and females.

The unequal crime drop: Changes over time in the distribution of crime among individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds:

Since the 1990s, many countries, including Sweden, have seen declining crime levels. In this article, we study whether this general trend is concealing differences between different social groups. In contrast to the few studies that have to date examined the issue of inequality in the crime drop, we focus on the social background of offenders rather than crime victims. We analyse register data covering three entire Swedish birth cohorts, in which convictions data have been linked to data on parental incomes. In this way, we are able to examine changes over time in the distribution of crime among individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Our results show that crime trends differ by socioeconomic background: decreases in crime (theft offences) are greater among the more affluent, and increases (violent crime) are primarily located among the lower levels of the income distribution. This produces an increasing inequality in the conviction risk, primarily among men. Different mechanisms that can contribute to an understanding of why crime has become increasingly concentrated among less affluent social groups are discussed.

Why are occupational safety crimes increasing

The objective of this article is to analyse the structure of, and trends in, reported occupational safety crimes. The central focus is directed at analysing how we might understand the substantial increase in the number of reported offences witnessed during the first decade of the 21st century. In order to analyse trends in occupational safety crimes we proceed from both official crime statistics and data that have been compiled specifically for the purposes of this study, including a nationally representative sample of offence reports relating to the occupational safety crimes reported to the police. The results show that the increase in reported offenses is primarily due to a shift in definitions and in the reactions of the authorities rather than to a powerful increase in the number of actual crimes committed. This leads to the conclusion that registered occupational safety offences should first and foremost be viewed as a measure of the work of the authorities, rather than as an indicator of real crime trends.

Cause for concern or moral panic? The prospects of the Swedish mods in retrospect

The Swedish mods of the 1960s frightened the parental generation like few other youth cultures. Was the concern justified – was the mod culture a hotbed of social maladjustment? Or would the mods come to live conventional lives to the same extent as their peers? We present analyses from a large longitudinal study allowing for a follow-up of individuals identifying with the Swedish mod culture in the late 1960s. Overall, the results point in the least dramatic direction: In mid-life, the vast majority of the former mods lived ordinary lives with work and family. When considering identification with the mod culture only, we do find an over-risk for becoming a social dropout. However, an elaborated analysis identifies the foundations of these problems already in early childhood, i.e. prior to the identification with the mod culture. Social problems in the family may have encouraged these youngsters to turn to a youth culture, but this identification in itself did not contribute to vulnerability. Although the results should be generalised with caution, they could serve as argument against moral panic over teenage identification with youth cultures, and instead shift focus to structures that give some children a disadvantaged start in life.