Crime prevention work : A qualitative study of social workers preventive work with juvenile delinquents and their guardians

Recently there has been an increase of reports of concern to the Swedish social services regarding juvenile delinquency. Early interventions for these juveniles can contribute to a reduced risk of more serious problems in the future. The purpose of this study was to examine the preventive work within the social services and how social workers perceive enabling and limiting factors in the preventive social work with juvenile delinquency. The study is based on seven interviews with social workers from four Swedish municipalities. The results of our study showed that the social workers perceived their role in prevention work differently. It also showed that the characteristics and approaches that the social workers emphasized as the most important to create trust varied among them. More factors were perceived as limiting rather than enabling. Many of the limiting factors were beyond the control of the social workers, such as the municipality’s budget or deficient cooperation with other authorities (for example the police). This study has contributed to more knowledge about preventive work from the perspective of professionals