?Regeringen skyndar p? ?tg?rder mot g?ngkriminaliteten - En kritisk diskursanalys om hur media framst?ller f?rebyggande ?tg?rder mot g?ngkriminalitet
: Early interventionsGang crimeRepressive measuresPreventive measuresPolitical ideologyOpinion forming
Gang crime has increased significantly in Sweden over the past decade, deadly shootings are
becoming more common. This led to the year 2022 being established as the deadliest year in
Swedish crime statistics since the police began compiling national statistics on shootings. Gang
crime is, therefore, a highly relevant topic in the Swedish mass media. Besides the mass media,
the phenomenon is also of interest to politicians and the general public. Because of the
escalation of violence in Sweden, daily reports discuss the measures that should be implemented
to combat gang crime. This topic is debated among politicians who do not agree on which
measures are the most effective. Therefore, this study aims to investigate, through a textual
analysis, how preventive measures against gang crime are portrayed in editorial texts and news
articles between the years 2020-2023. The more specific aim of this study is to chart and
compare whether the newspaper's political ideological position affects the representation of
preventive measures against gang crime and in that case, how? To attain the purpose of this
study, critical discourse analysis have been applied. To achieve the study's purpose, a limited
number of editorial articles and news articles from four newspaper editorials with various
political ideological positions have been utilized. The results of this study show that there are
similarities and differences in which preventive measures are portrayed in various newspapers.
The results also show that political ideology is clearly presented in their arguments in measures
against gang crime.