Tove Pettersson
Teaching
Qualitative methods, gender and crime.
Research
Research areas:
Special approved youth homes, youth custody, gender and crime, discrimination within criminal justice, police work with youth.
Research projects
Publications
A selection from Stockholm University publication database
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The female offender - A century of registered crime and daily press reporting on women’s crime
2019. Felipe Estrada, Anders Nilsson, Tove Pettersson.
ArticleRead more about The female offender - A century of registered crime and daily press reporting on women’s crimeThis article examines how women’s crime has been reflected in crime statistics and media crime reporting. We employ a long-term historical perspective, looking at developments from the beginning of the 20th century until the present. We describe the overarching processes that underlie the decline in the gender gap in convictions for theft and violent crime, respectively, at different times during the past century. The study also use a new data set comprised of newspaper articles on women’s and men’s offending published by the Swedish press between 1905 and 2015. We compare the trend in the number of articles focused on offences committed by women and men respectively, variations in the offence types that the daily press choose to report on and the overarching explanations for crime that are discussed in the articles. The results show that levels of coverage and the types of crime that attract media attention are strikingly similar for men and women, but throughout the whole period there is a greater need for the newspapers to find reasons for women’s offending. Moreover, there has been no marked increase in the press focus on women’s crime as women have comprised an increasing proportion of those convicted of criminal offences.
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Kriminalitet, maskulinitet och möjligheter till förändring
2020. Tove Pettersson. Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift 97 (2), 266-275
ArticleRead more about Kriminalitet, maskulinitet och möjligheter till förändringI denna artikel diskuteras kopplingar mellan konstruktioner av maskulinitet och brott. Artikeln inleds med en allmän beskrivning om hur maskulinitet antas vara betydelsefullt för att begå brott för att sedan mer specifikt diskutera gruppens betydelse för maskulinitetsnormer som premierar brott. Avslutningsvis förs ett resonemang kring potential för förändring. Brott utgör en möjlig resurs för att konstruera en godtagbar maskulinitet, vilket i sin tur kan kopplas till samhälleliga förväntningar på pojkar och män. Ett sammanhang där förväntningar från andra är särskilt betydelsefullt är i grupper, varför maskulinitet, grupper och brott på flera sätt är sammankopplade. Eftersom det handlar om konstruktioner och förväntningar finns dock även potential till förändring, där exempelvis gruppen kan användas som verktyg för att uppnå detta.
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Underdogs, rebels, and heroes
2020. Monica Skrinjar, Tove Pettersson. Sociologisk forskning 57 (3-4), 289-311
ArticleRead more about Underdogs, rebels, and heroesThis article shows how autobiographies of famous, socially well-established men (re)produce hegemonic masculinity through narratives of offending; how masculine performance is age graded; and that masculinity constructions are accomplished both via what is said and what is not said. The autobiographies of the footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović, the former high jumper Patrik Sjöberg and Sweden’s most famous criminologist, Professor Leif G.W. Persson, are analysed. Common to all three is that they openly describe a variety of crimes they have committed. These three men are highly respected in Sweden and none of them is considered as “a criminal” in general opinion. This article shows that crime can be a resource for doing masculinity even for famous, successful and highly respected men. The crime narratives in these autobiographies tell us something about the culturally accepted representations of masculinity that may not just pass as possible, but even as desirable.
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Könsskillnader i brottslighet - hur kan de förklaras?
2018. Olof Bäckman (et al.). Ekonomisk Debatt 46 (4), 67-78
ArticleRead more about Könsskillnader i brottslighet - hur kan de förklaras?Vi dokumenterar könsskillnader i lagföringar och presenterar de i litteraturen vanligast förekommande förklaringsansatserna. Män begår fler och grövre tillgreppsbrott samt våldsbrott, medan kvinnor begår färre och lindrigare tillgreppsbrott, företrädesvis utan våld. För att förklara dessa viktiga könsskillnader menar vi att man, utöver de vanligaste ekonomiska incitamenten, även måste ta hänsyn till könsskillnader i icke-kognitiva förmågor, kamrateffekter samt könsroller och den ”manliga” identitet som tillåter och ibland uppmuntrar till våld.
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Betydelse av öppenhet under institutionstiden för ungdomar dömda till sluten ungdomsvård.
2017. Tove Pettersson.
ReportRead more about Betydelse av öppenhet under institutionstiden för ungdomar dömda till sluten ungdomsvård.Unga brottslingar dömda till sluten ungdomsvård är en grupp som i hög utsträckning återfaller i brott eller fortsätter sin kriminella karriär in i vuxen ålder. Insatser som kan minska antalet återfall är angeläget för både förövarna själv, potentiella nya offer och samhället som helhet.
I rapporten redovisas resultat från en studie som undersöker på vilket sätt öppenhet under institutionstiden är relaterad till återfall i brott fem år efter sluten ungdomsvård och vilken betydelse öppenheten har för vardagen på institutionen. Sammantaget visar resultaten att öppnare former bidrar till en bättre miljö för ungdomarna och minskar andelen ungdomar som återfaller i brott.
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När hjälpen gör ont värre – om (oönskad?) konsekvenser av att undvika häkte för unga lagöverträdare
2017. Tove Pettersson. Tvångsvård av barn och unga, 278-295
ChapterRead more about När hjälpen gör ont värre – om (oönskad?) konsekvenser av att undvika häkte för unga lagöverträdareFör att undvika häkte för barn och unga placeras dessa ofta på särskilda ungdomshem, låsta ungdomsinstitutioner. Om en person häktas räknas dock häktningstiden av från eventuellt framtida frihetsstraff, medan detta inte sker vid placering vid särskilda ungdomshem, vilket i praktiken leder till längre frihetsberövanden än om den unga hade häktats. Kapitlet diskuterar detta utifrån förekomst, rättsliga aspekter och ungdomars egna upplevelser av detta.
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Open custody for criminal youth hold back re-offending
2017. Tove Pettersson. Sociologisk forskning 54 (4), 369-372
ArticleRead more about Open custody for criminal youth hold back re-offendingIn Sweden, youths who commit very serious offences are sentenced to youth custody. This article addresses issues relating to how these children experience being incarcerated, the significance of custodial openness for their everyday institutional lives, and how the experience of more open custodial forms during youth custody sentences is related to re-offending. The empirical data provide support for the significance of more open custodial forms as a means of both providing incarcerated youths with a less destructive environment and increasing the likelihood of more positive re-offending outcomes following their release.
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Young Offenders and Open Custody
2016. Tove Pettersson.
BookRead more about Young Offenders and Open CustodyIn Young Offenders and Open Custody Tove Pettersson provides powerful support for the view that the experience of more open custodial forms during the youth custody sentence is of significance both for providing incarcerated youths with a more humane environment and for the likelihood of a positive outcome following their release. Building upon detailed interviews with convicted youths and staff at the special approved homes in Sweden, this book offers unique insights into the effect of punishment on young offenders and their understanding of social control.
Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data, this book examines levels of reoffending over time among youths sentenced to custody, and considers the impact of open sentences. This book will be useful reading for students and researchers engaged in youth and juvenile justice, juvenile delinquency, and sentencing and punishment.
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Complaints as Opportunity for Change in Encounters between Youths and Police Officers
2014. Tove Pettersson.
ArticleRead more about Complaints as Opportunity for Change in Encounters between Youths and Police OfficersThe presence of distrust in the police and how they perform their work among ethnic minority youths in socially underprivileged areas is well established. Experiences of, or beliefs about, unfair treatment from the police can be viewed both as an indicator and a consequence of exclusion. It is well-known that negative experiences of the police are more significant for trust in the police and their legitimacy than positive ones, with some even suggesting that positive experiences do not matter at all. However, from a procedural justice perspective it has been suggested that some positive experience do matter, particularly if the police are considered to perform their work in line with procedural fairness. On the basis of a participant observation study, this article discusses situations in which youths express complaints about the police in different ways. In response to such situations, the police can act in both exclusionary and inclusive ways. It is argued that youths’ complaints can be used as an opportunity for change if the police treat the youths concerned with fairness and in inclusive rather than exclusionary ways.
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Doing masculinity in youth institutions
2014. Tove Pettersson. Masculinities in the criminological field, 39-56
ChapterRead more about Doing masculinity in youth institutionsPrevious research has shown how the care at the youth institutions is gendered in several ways. The chapter focus on how staff at special approved youth homes constructs the significance of males, in particular males physical bodies, in the staff. Focus is on the links between the presence of physically powerful men and the gender constructions that may be generated, and their relevance for the treatment offered to, above all, the boys. Thirty-nine qualitative interviews have been conducted with treatment staff, working on both single-sex and mixed-sex wards. The subthemes that emerges in the analysis of the staffs views is the male staff’s contribution in both good and bad ways to a laddish atmosphere at the wards, physical conflicts, women as having a soothing effect, and the male body as provocative. The interview participants’ narratives illustrate their ambivalence towards a physically powerful and muscular male body in the treatment staff. It should be noted that both women and men are participants not only in constructing the image of the need for the physically strong man but also in the problematisation of the same. The chapter concludes that in the organization of the care at youth institutions there is a need to be awareness of these issues.
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Belonging and Unbelonging in Encounters between Young Males and Police Officers
2013. Tove Pettersson. Critical Criminology 21 (4), 417-430
ArticleRead more about Belonging and Unbelonging in Encounters between Young Males and Police OfficersThis article is based on a study in which the work of police officers has been followed on a day-to-day basis, with a special focus on the work directed at youths. The focus is on how contact is established or obstructed in the meeting between police officers and young males, and the significance of constructions of masculinity and ethnicity/race for this process. Encounters between young males and police officers are analysed from Yuval-Davis notions of belonging and unbelonging. The analysis shows how both masculinity and ethnicity/race can be used for establishing or obstructing contact between police and young males. The article also show how belonging and unbelonging is a question of negotiations that can undergo a number of shifts in the course of a given situation, and also that these negotiations take the form of a collaborative activity, even if this starts from unequal power positions. A situation that starts from an antagonistic approach may in fact, via markers of belonging, turn out quite different. But it is also pointed out that the markers of belonging in one dimension, at the same time may generate markers of unbelonging in others. Finally this developing of contact shall be understood both as a way of changing the contacts into less conflicted ways and as one of several ways of gaining more control in stigmatized areas.
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Recidivism Among Young Males Sentenced to Prison and Youth Custody
2010. Tove Pettersson. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 11 (2), 151-169
ArticleRead more about Recidivism Among Young Males Sentenced to Prison and Youth CustodyIn 1999, Sweden introduced a new Act focused on young persons aged 15–17 who commit serious offences. The object of the Act was to replace prison sentences with a new sanction in the form of youth custody, which would involve a placement in a special approved home. This study constitutes a follow up comparison of criminal recidivism among young males sentenced to prison prior to the introduction of the Youth Custody Act (1991-1998) and young males sentenced to youth custody following the introduction of the Act (1999-2003). The study shows that the sanction has not only been used as a replacement for prison sentences, but has also led to an expansion in custodial sentencing in the form of ”net-widening”. There has also been a substantial increase in the length of custodial sentences awarded in connection with the new sanction. A comparison with the youth sanction in Denmark raise questions about the consequences of having expanded the group of youths sentenced to a custodial sanction in Sweden, and of the increased length of the custodial sentences to which this group is subjected.
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Kriminologiska perspektiv på genus & brott
2021. Tove Pettersson.
BookRead more about Kriminologiska perspektiv på genus & brottBoken tar upp betydelsen av ett genusperspektiv och ger ett unikt helhetsgrepp på genus och brott, där tre perspektiv står i fokus: orsaker till brott, offer för brott och samhällets kontroll av brott. Aktuell forskning inom området presenteras, varvat med tydliga exempel för ökad åskådlighet.
Boken belyser frågor som:
- Vilken betydelse har genus för orsaker till brott?
- Har genus betydelse för samhällets kontroll av brott och brottslingar?
- Hur hör genus samman med offerskap och brott?
- Vilka möjligheter och begränsningar finns det med ett genusperspektiv inom kriminologin?
Kriminologiska perspektiv på genus & brott vänder sig till studenter på utbildningar inom exempelvis kriminologi, socialt arbete och sociologi. Den kan med fördel användas som fortbildning av professionella inom rättsväsende, socialt arbete och liknande områden. Även forskare inom dessa områden kan ha utbyte av att läsa boken liksom en intresserad allmänhet.
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Compulsory care placements among unaccompanied male refugee minors
2023. Tove Pettersson, Maria A. Vogel. Nordic Journal of Criminology 24 (1), 1-22
ArticleRead more about Compulsory care placements among unaccompanied male refugee minorsThe increase of unaccompanied refugee minors in Sweden during the last decades is reflected in an increase in the proportion of unaccompanied male minors subjected to compulsory placements in secure care. Reports have shown that this group differed from other youths in secure care, but research on reasons for compulsory care is scarce regarding unaccompanied minors. In this article, unaccompanied male minors (UAMM) subjected to compulsory care, and whether these differ in relation to other youths, is investigated. We also examine variation within the group of UAMM. A general comparison shows that the grounds invoked for the compulsory placement of UAMM follow general gender patterns in certain respects, while in others they are more similar to the grounds described in relation to assessments of girls’ behaviour. The UAMM were more often placed in secure institutions. Three groups of UAMM were identified with relatively different problems, although a placement in secure care is the most common one regardless of problem profile. It is argued that the UAMM in some respects seem to be subjected to legal uncertainty with both harsher interventions than appropriate, and as a result, not receiving the care to which they are entitled.
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Tuffa tag och tillit: En rapport om utslussning, eftervård och återfall för dömda till sluten ungdomsvård
2023. Tove Pettersson.
ReportRead more about Tuffa tag och tillitI denna studie följs dömda till sluten ungdomsvård mellan år 1999-2017 upp i återfall i brott. Genom intervjuer med personal vid de särskilda ungdomshemmen studieras utslussningsverksmahet för de unga smat eftervård.
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Tvångsomhändertaganden av unga – betydelse avkön, härkomst och socioekonomisk bakgrund förbedömningar i LVU-mål
2023. Tove Pettersson, Maria Andersson Vogel.
ReportRead more about Tvångsomhändertaganden av unga – betydelse avkön, härkomst och socioekonomisk bakgrund förbedömningar i LVU-målRapporten utgår från en totalundersökning av unga som omhändertas genom §3 Lagen om vård av ung (LVU) under 2015 och 2016. I rapporten studeras hur Förvaltningsrätter och socialnämnder beskriver de ungas problem och vilka skäl de omhändertas på. Materialet utgörs av information fråpn domar och domstolsakter samt har kompletterats med information om placering vid låst institution (särksilda ungdomshem) samt uppgifter om både barnet och dess familj i olika befolkningsregister från SCB:s.
Studien undersöker följande frågeställningar
1) Av vilka skäl omhändertas flickor respektive pojkar genom § 3LVU?
2) Är, och i så fall hur, kön, socioekonomisk situation och härkomstbetydelsefulla för dessa beslut?
3) Vilka av ungdomarna som omhändertas blir också föremål för denmest ingripande åtgärden, placering vid särskilt ungdomshem, ochhur förhåller sig detta till kön, socioekonomisk situation och härkomst?
4. Vilka likheter och skillnader kan urskiljas jämfört med omhändertagandenför drygt 20 år sedan?
Show all publications by Tove Pettersson at Stockholm University