Criminality among Young People With Substance Use Problems in Sweden: A One-Year Follow-Up Study

• DOI: 10.1177/00220426211046596
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Mikael Dahlberg,Mats Anderberg,Peter Wennberg
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Journal of Drug Issues

2022, Vol. 52(3) 406–420

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00220426211046596

journals.sagepub.com/home/jod

Criminality among Young

People With Substance Use

Problems in Sweden: A

One-Year Follow-Up Study

Mats Anderberg

1

, Mikael Dahlberg

2

, and Peter Wennberg

3

Abstract

Swedish drug policy has a strong focus on minor drug violations. This longitudinal study analyses

the association between criminality and substance use problems among young people who have

received outpatient treatment and risk factors that predict continued problems with c riminality.

Research on this target group is under development in Sweden, but there are few follow-up

studies. The study indicates that about one-quarters of the young people who begin outpatient

treatment have been convicted of crimes at 1-year follow-up. Most of them who had been

convicted with offences also have ongoing problems with substance use and three-quarter s of the

young people had been charged with a drug-related offence. More than f‌ive risk factors give an

elevated risk of continued criminality. Interventions meeting the needs of young people, moving

away from the current emphasis on penal law principles, may also contribute to reduce d

criminality in this target group.

Keywords

criminality, substance use, young people, follow-up, outpatient treatment

Introduction

Adolescence is a developmental stage often characterised by various kinds of risk-taking, such as

experimentation with alcohol, drugs, sexuality and criminal activities. Most people commit min or

offences at one time or another in their youth (B¨

ackman, Estrada, Nilsson, & Shannon, 2014). Half

of Swedish pupils in year nine report having committed some kind of crime at some point

(National Council for Crime Prevention 2020), while an equal percentage has also been victims of

crime. The 15–20-year-old group accounts for one-f‌ifth of all criminal charges, even though this

1

Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University, V¨

axj¨

o, Sweden

2

Institute for Development of Knowledge on Treatment of Alcohol and Drug Abuse (IKM), Linnaeus University, V¨

axj¨

o,

Sweden

3

Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Mats Anderberg, Department of Social Work, Linnaeus University, S-351 95, V¨

axj¨

o, Sweden.

Email: mats.anderberg@lnu.se