Unga lagöverträdare - Samhällets kompromiss?
En studie av socialtjänstens yttranden
Social lawCriminal lawJuvenile crimeStatementSocial servicesCertain need of interventionsThe compromise of society
AbstractIn Sweden all persons under the age of 18 are considered children. The age when it is possible to be held responsible for a criminal act, and therefor convicted in court, is 15. Society?s and, perhaps first and foremost, the authority?s attitude towards juvenile crime is that they should not be equal adults in the process within criminal law. Because children are considered essential for the society of tomorrow, it is important to pay extra attention to crimes committed by juveniles. The social services authorities are considered to have the best resources and competence to handle this group of juveniles. In the criminal law process the prosecutor requests a statement regarding the young person who is reasonably suspected of a criminal act. The statement should contain information about if the young person is in need of certain interventions from social services in order to prevent unfavorable development.The conclusion that has been drawn when the statements has been reviewed is that a borderland has been created where social law and criminal law overlap. This overlapping is in a way a collision where social aspects and principles of criminal law have to meet. However, it is not always easy to make both sides satisfied. As a way to meet the needs of both sides the borderland becomes a compromise consisting of the process regarding the juveniles. The purpose of this essay is to describe and understand the compromise that has been made where statements and young juveniles are existing.The aim of this essay is to study 23 statements from social services that prosecutor request and the 23 court records attached to them. All statements and court records are regarding persons between 15 ? 17 years old. The study is limited to the period between 2010-01-01 to 2010-12-31. This essay has been from a qualitative point of view where the discourse analysis as an text analytical method has been used to understand the collected statements and court records.Central results is that the statements reviewed in this essay overall are satisfying in fulfilling the social law and criminal law aspects. However the results also point out that an uncertainty within the social services regarding the design of the statements also is to be found. Descriptions of social aspects about the young juvenile behind the statement seems to be important to emphasize.