Socialsekreteraren har ordet! En studie av hur ungdomar beskrivs i socialtjänstens yttranden avseende unga lagöverträdare.
LagstiftningSocialtjänstSocialt arbeteSociala utredningarUnga lagöverträdareSocial problems and welfareNational insuranceSociala problemSocial välfärdSocialförsäkringLaw and Political Science
The purpose of this essay was to examine how youths are described in certain written statements that are produced by the social services. The statements that this study has focused on, are those written with the purpose of serving the court with suggestions of treatment-measures when a person between 15 and 18 is suspected of having committed a crime. The main issues were: How is the content in these statements described and what do these descriptions tell the reader? Do the images of youths in the statements differ, depending on the degree of intervention for the suggested treatment-measure? The essay is based on a qualitative content-analysis of 50 statements and the material has been analysed from a social-constructive theoretical perspective.The study shows that the youths in the statements are described through descriptions that reinforces a positive or a negative image of the youth, and that these descriptions are described as either utterances or facts. Depending on the degree of intervention for the suggested treatment-measures, the information in the statements differ in that descriptions that are likely to reinforce a positive image of the youth are more frequent in the statements where no or less intervening treatment-measures is suggested. I addition to this, descriptions that are likely to reinforce a negative image of the youth are more frequent in the statements where more intervening treatment-measures is suggested. The study further shows that descriptions are more often described as facts in the statements with more intervening suggested treatment-measures. In addition to this, descriptions are more often described as utterances in the statements with less intervening suggested treatment-measures.