Unga lagöverträdare i socialtjänstens yttranden : en studie om konstruktionen av maskulint och feminint i yttranden enligt 11§ LUL

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how gender is constructed in presentence reports written by social workers’ as mandated by 11§ LUL. Young offenders are often assigned normative masculine or feminine attributes by personnel at treatment centers, girls are considered emotional and in need of support while boys are considered disorderly and in need of structure. Young female delinquents are victimized which affects their culpability; they are less likely to be held responsible for the crimes they committed. Young male delinquents are viewed as aggressive and in control; they are more likely to be held accountable for their criminal actions. In this study we analyze 20 presentence reports using critical discourse analysis; ten reports about girls and ten about boys, in half of the reports the youth is diagnosed with ADHD (5 boys and 5 girls). Our main results show that gender construction occurs in presentence reports, for example it is crucial that girls’ are calmed down by means of adult support, while boys’ need to be activated and controlled. We also ascertain that youths with an ADHD-diagnosis often are perceived as victims and therefore attributed less culpability for their crimes, regardless of gender.