A new research project involving Lars Brännström, Ylva B Almquist, Hilma Forsman and Fredrik Sivertsson has received funding from Forte. The project will investigate why young people with experience of out of home care are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, with particular attention to offending patterns, sanctions and the role of neurodisabilities.
Young people who have experienced out of home care, including foster family and residential care, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. This transition between child welfare and criminal justice is sometimes described as the “care to custody pipeline”. Despite its implications for prevention and young people’s life chances, the crossover population has received relatively limited research attention in Sweden.
The project, From child welfare to criminal justice: Offenses, sanctions, and the role of neurodisabilities among young adults with experience of out of home care, will provide a detailed national picture of this population. The researchers will examine its size and sociodemographic composition, how it has changed over time, and patterns in the frequency, type and severity of offending and subsequent sanctions.
Particular attention will be given to neurodisabilities, including ADHD, and whether they contribute to differences in pathways from care to criminal justice. The researchers will also examine intersecting inequalities related to gender, socioeconomic background and migration background to understand how different circumstances may combine to shape risks and outcomes.
The project will use Swedish register data covering 22 national birth cohorts born between 1980 and 2001, comprising approximately 2.3 million individuals. Around 3 to 4% of the population is expected to have experience of out of home care. Individuals will be followed prospectively from birth to age 25, allowing the researchers to examine developments across more than two decades. The project may also draw on data from EQUITY 2000.
Beyond describing patterns of criminal justice involvement, the project aims to identify periods when specialised and coordinated support may be particularly important. The results can contribute to risk and needs assessments and to the development of interventions involving social services, the criminal justice system and health care.
The multidisciplinary project brings together expertise in sociology, criminology, social work and public health sciences. An advisory board consisting of researchers, practitioners, policymakers and representatives from user organisations will also contribute to the project and help translate its findings into practice.