Maria Andersson Vogel has been appointed Docent
The Department of Criminology congratulates Maria Andersson Vogel, who has been appointed Associate Professor in Criminology. She is a researcher at the Department of Criminology, with a special focus on girls and young women. ‘Girls are easily overlooked when we talk about young people's crime and behavioural problems,’ says Maria Andersson Vogel.
Photo: Sören Andersson/Stockholm University
Maria Andersson Vogel defended her doctoral thesis in 2012 at the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University. Her thesis was about care chains for those who are compulsorily placed at SiS (The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care) special youth homes.
– I followed a group of young people who were part of a care chain initiative to investigate whether it made any difference during follow-up and what significance gender, class and ethnicity have for the young people's situation. ‘Very briefly, the results showed that the care chain initiative had no effect and that the group of young people is a gender-segregated group where boys and girls have very different problems and needs, she says.
Although she began her research career at the Department of Social Work, the criminological focus has always been there.
– Since my doctoral studies, my overall research interest has been questions about society's forms of control and discipline of young people with what are considered behavioural problems, and how sex/gender and other power structures play a role in this. In this way, my research has touched on basic criminological questions about how society deals with children who commit crimes or exhibit other norm-breaking behaviour, but also how children are harmed by crime, right from the start.
Girls are easily overlooked when we talk about youth crime and behavioural problems, so it is important to focus specifically on them.
In recent years, her research interests have focused on girls and young women in various forms of vulnerable life situations and with behaviours that society wants to control and discipline in different ways and for different reasons.
– For example, I have conducted an ethnographic study of girls' lives at the special youth homes, and in another project I investigated the significance of gender, class and ethnicity in cases of compulsory care due to behavioural problems (Section 3 of the Swedish Child Protection Act). Among other things, we have been able to see that girls risk being held responsible for their sexual victimisation.
Important research focus
Girls' and young women's crime, behavioural problems and vulnerability are interesting and important to research for several reasons, says Maria Andersson Vogel.
– Girls are still easily overlooked when we talk about young people's criminality and behavioural problems, which is why it is important to focus specifically on them. It is also the case that girls in vulnerable life situations often have a complex mix of vulnerability and norm-breaking, while at the same time being dealt with by repressive means. This is important to highlight, but also very interesting from a theoretical point of view.
Currently working on several studies
Maria Andersson Vogel is currently working on several different research projects. These include a project with other research colleagues on what it is like to grow up as a girl in areas defined by the police as particularly socially vulnerable, and another on girls' involvement in criminal gangs.
– I also have a project on the use of coercive measures at special youth homes and am part of the research team for a new programme that will look at the social services‘ crime prevention work, she says.
– I'm also pleased that my colleague and I have just received funding from Forte to conduct a follow-up register study of young people who have been forcibly taken into care. This will enable us to show what happens to those who were taken into care during childhood because of behavioural problems.
Last updated: November 19, 2024
Source: Department of Criminology