An ethnographic study of young gang desisters’ disengagement from criminal groups in Sweden

Over the past decade, Sweden has experienced a concerning rise in gang-related gun violence, alongside an increasing recruitment of young people into criminal networks. At the same time, Swedish authorities report that growing numbers of young individuals are voluntarily seeking support from gang exit programs to leave these groups. Based on ongoing ethnographic research and life-history interviews with gang desisters in Sweden, this presentation explores the process of disengagement from criminal networks. Drawing on preliminary findings, it examines the structural and individual challenges that shape desistance and reintegration. Structural challanges include relocation to new cities, ongoing security concerns, and limited access to employment opportunities, while individual challenges involve experiences of stigma, social exclusion, and the absence of alternative social and economic pathways.

About the lecturer

Anna Hedlund, University of Gothenburg

Anna Hedlund is a social anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the Department of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg. Her current research focuses on young people involved in criminal networks and evidence based strategies to prevent shootings and lethal violence in Sweden, including Group Violence Intervention (GVI) and gang exit programs. She is a co-researcher in a Nordic comparative project on desistance from street crime in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and serves as principal investigator of a project on young people seeking to leave criminal environments. Her earlier research examined collective memories of the Rwandan genocide among armed rebel groups in eastern Congo, analysing the roles of history, ethnicity and propaganda in narratives of violence. Hedlund’s work is primarily based on ethnographic methods, fieldwork and qualitative interviews.

Sociology@MaU

Sociology@MaU is a seminar series that highlights sociological perspectives in research at, and beyond, Malmö University. Sociology@MaU brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss contemporary issues and spark interdisciplinary dialogue incorporating sociological perspectives. The aim is to encourage intellectual exchange about theories, methods and empirical fields, thus providing fertile ground for ideas about new – more just – ways of organising society. The seminars are open to all.

Sociology

In sociology, the human is studied in society. The social interaction between individuals and groups, societal structures and...

Contact