In this chapter, we explore the usefulness of applying the idea of partial organization as one way of mitigating the confusion surrounding the notion of organized crime. We examine three types of collectivities that are usually seen as examples of organized crime: outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCs), street gangs, and mafias. When we examine the occurrence of organizational elements, we find substantial differences among these three cases not only in the amount of their organization, but also in the ways in which they are organized. A few multinational outlaw motorcycle gangs have gradually been able to form strong formal organizations containing all organizational elements. For a mafia, the situation is quite the opposite. Because its embeddedness in kinship relationships provides cohesion and protection, it needs little organization. Through its strong kinship ties, a mafia has access to several functional equivalents to the organizational elements one can find in OMCs. In street gangs the appearance of organizational elements varies among the gangs, and they rarely have more than a few elements at any one time. One obstacle for the organization of street gangs is their local embeddedness and limited duration, which loosen the boundaries of the gang.

In this exploratory study, individuals’ processes of engagement in violent extremist groups are analysed by drawing from criminological life-course theory and narrative-based understandings of crime. Based on interviews with individuals who have participated in violent extremism, it is suggested that the process of engagement consists of three steps: (1) a weakening of informal social controls, followed by (2) an interaction with individuals in proximity to the group and (3) a stage of meaning-making in relation to the group and one’s identity, resulting in an individual’s willingness and capacity to engaging in the group’s activities, including violence. In future theorizing about processes of engagement in violent extremism, the meanings of age, and the life-course stages of late adolescence and emerging adulthood in particular, should be given analytic attention.

While there is a substantial research literature on Western ‘foreign fighters’ – those young men and women from Europe, North America, Australia and elsewhere who traveled to Syria and Iraq, from around 2011–2017, to join jihadist groups engaged in combat – there is a dearth of comparative studies examining the backgrounds of these fighters. National variations in the levels of recruitment have been measured and samples examined to determine the demographics of these fighters, indicating some national variations in who went, how, and maybe why. More fulsome comparative data is needed, however, to detect and measure such differences to gain insight into the factors conditioning the radicalization of these foreign fighters. Calling on original and unique datasets, this study presents the results of a comparative analysis of Canadian and Swedish foreign fighters. In each case the findings are compared with other domestic jihadists as well to delineate if those drawn to fight in Syria and Iraq differ. Clear differences emerge in the basic demographics of these national samples, highlighting some empirical and interpretive issues in need of further analysis.

Gun violence is a serious issue in many countries across the globe. It has been shown that there is an elevated risk for a further shooting nearby within a short time span of a shooting incident, so-called near-repeat patterning. The present study presents new evidence on near-repeat patterning in Sweden, with a focus on neighbourhoods which the police have labelled as ‘vulnerable’–deprived neighbourhoods where criminal networks have a large impact on local communities. Such neighbourhoods tend to have open drug markets, and to have high levels of gun violence. The present paper analyses the association of open drug markets and vulnerable neighbourhoods with gun violence and near-repeat patterning of gun violence in two Swedish cities. Our findings suggest that gun violence is strongly concentrated on open drug markets in vulnerable neighbourhoods, and that those locations in addition exhibit high risks for repeat shootings after an initial shooting event. We propose that the police can use this knowledge to improve practices to prevent or disrupt gun violence.

Sweden represents an unlikely case for the development of mafia-like organisations: the state is strong with a relatively well-functioning legal system; the political institutions are stable, trust in government is widespread, bureaucratic ethics are strong, and associational life is vibrant. Yet, in a relatively short time, starting in the early 1980s, organised crime has established its power structure in Södertälje, a medium-sized city near Stockholm. In September 2014, the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm confirmed the existence of a criminal organisation that had an extensive power structure with ramifications into politics and the welfare sector. This chapter analyses the so-called ‘Syriac mafia’ and its relationship with the welfare state and politics at the local level in the city of Södertälje.

Trauma injury is the sixth leading cause of death worldwide, and interpersonal violence is one of the major contributors in particular regarding injuries to the head and neck. The incidence, demographics, and outcomes of penetrating trauma reaching hospitals in Sweden are not known. We report the largest, nationwide epidemiological study of penetrating injuries in Sweden, using the Swedish Trauma Registry (SweTrau). A multi-center retrospective descriptive study of 4,776 patients was conducted with penetrating injuries in Sweden, between 2012 and 2018. Due to the increase in coverage of the SweTrau registry during the same period, we chose to analyze the average number of cases for the time intervals 2013–2015 and 2016–2018 and compare those trends to the reports of the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) as well. A total of 663 patients had Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥ 15 at admission and were included in the study. Three hundred and sixty-eight (55.5%) were stab wounds (SW), 245 (37.0%) gunshot wounds (GSW), and 50 (7.5%) other traumas. A majority of the cases involved injuries to the head, neck, and face. SW increased from 145 during 2013–2015 to 184 during the second period of 2016–2018. The increase was greater for GSW from 92 to 141 during the same respective periods. This trend of increase over time was also seen in head, neck, and face injuries. The 30-day mortality was unaffected (48–47%) in GSW and trended toward lower in SW (24–21%) when comparing 2013–2015 with 2016–2018. Patients with head trauma had 45% mortality compared to 18% for non-head trauma patients. Head trauma also resulted in worse outcomes, only 13% had Glasgow outcome score (GOS) 5 compared to 27% in non-head trauma. The increasing number of cases of both SW and GSW corresponded well with reports from Brå although further studies also are needed to address deaths outside of hospitals and not registered at the SweTrau. The majority of cases had injuries to the head, neck, and face and were associated with higher mortality and poor outcomes. Further studies are needed to understand the contributing factors to these worse outcomes in Sweden and whether more targeted trauma care of these patients can improve outcomes.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with an insight into gang-related violence, and responses to gang-related violence, across a number of European cities. To this end, it brings together city-specific sections written by subject experts who have resided and conducted research in four European countries: the UK, Belgium, Russia and Sweden. Each sub-section of the chapter follows a similar structure: first, we provide contextual information about gangs in each city; second, we discuss data on gang member demographics; third, we consider the nature and scale of gang-related urban violence; and fourth, we outline some of the main policy responses aimed at tackling gang violence, including any references to public health approaches to violence reduction.

The riots in Stockholm in May 2013 were an event that reverberated in the world media for its dimension of violence that had spreadthrough the Swedish capital. In this study we have investigated the role of social media in creating media phenomena via text miningand natural language processing. We have focused on two channels of communication for our analysis: Twitter and Poloniainfo.se(Forum of Polish community in Sweden). Our preliminary results show some hot topics driving discussion related mostly to SwedishPolice and Swedish Politics by counting word usage. Typical features for media intervention are presented. We have built networks ofmost popular phrases, clustered by categories (geography, media institution, etc.). Sentiment analysis shows negative connotation withPolice. The aim of this preliminary exploratory quantitative study was to generate questions and hypotheses, which we could carefullyfollow by deeper more qualitative methods. 

BACKGROUND: Penetrating trauma to the head and neck (HN) has increased during the past decade in Sweden. This aim of this study was to characterize these injuries and to evaluate the outcome in patients treated at a tertiary trauma centre.

METHODS: Swedish trauma registry (SweTrau) data was extracted on patients with HN injuries admitted to Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, between 2011 and 2019. Outcome information was extracted from hospital records, with primary endpoints focusing of physiological outcome measures and secondary endpoints on surgical and radiological outcomes.

RESULTS: Of 1436 penetrating trauma patients, 329 patients with penetrating HN injuries were identified. 20% (n=66) suffered a gunshot wound (GSW), 73% (n=240) a stab wound (SW), and 7% (n=23) other trauma mechanisms (OTM). The median age for GSW, SW and OTM were 25, 33, and 21, respectively. Assault was primary intent, GSW (81.8%, n=54) and SW (65.8%, n=158). Patients suffering GSWs had severer injuries, worse admission GCS-M and higher intubation rate at the injury site. Most GSW patients underwent major surgery (59.1%) as an initial procedure and more likely had intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) (21.2%). The 30-day mortality: 45.5% (n=30) for GSWs, 5.4% (n=13) for SWs and 0% (n=0) for OTMs. There was a yearly increase in incidence and mortality for GSW and SW.

CONCLUSION: Between 2011 and 2019, there was an increasing yearly trend of incidence and mortality from penetrating HN trauma in Stockholm, Sweden. GSW patients suffered more severe injuries, ICHs, and underwent more surgical interventions compared to SW and OTM.

The objective was to assess the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in preventing gang membership and gang-related crime among children and young adults under the age of 30. We performed a systematic review and synthesized interventions targeting universal, selective, and indicated populations published between January 2000 and April 2023. We included 42 (seven randomized, 12 nonrandomized, 23 controlled interrupted time series) studies evaluating 33 unique psychosocial interventions. Synthesis without meta-analysis found a preventive effect of psychosocial interventions in middle schools on gang membership. Furthermore, meta-analysis found that focused deterrence strategies prevented gang-involved violence, and that psychosocial support during probation decreased crime recidivism. This systematic review found significant effects of four psychosocial interventions compared to control in reducing future criminality, especially gun violence, among children and young adults. The findings are discussed regarding policy implications and ethical considerations. 

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) have received increased attention from both law enforcement agencies and the research community. This study investigates the criminal collaboration patterns of two OMGs with a long history of hostilities. We use government data on individuals registered as belonging to Hells Angels MC, Bandidos MC and individuals with multiple OMG memberships, and suspicion data from 2011 to 2016 to build co-offending networks. Our results show that members of multiple OMGs tend to have higher centrality and clustering. These members also have the highest levels of suspicions per capita, and most of the co-offending is related to nexus links involving multiple membership individuals. They can be described as ‘criminal nomads’, collaborating with individuals from different organisations. Our results suggest that core members tend to engage in white-collar crime to a greater extent than those on the periphery, which tend to engage more in violence and drug crime.

In this study we investigate organized crime by studying the degree of criminal organization. We use population-level register data on criminal suspicions between 2011 and 2016 to analyze the territoriality of Swedish street gangs in terms of geographical mobility, their collaboration in crime through their co-offending network's clustering and community structure, and their crime versatility. Although Swedish street gangs exhibit varying degrees of geographical mobility and criminal collaboration, overall, they have limited reach along these dimensions, characterized by low clustering and limited crime specialization. Violence seems to become a necessary tool only when a gang reaches a certain degree of organization. By unbraiding criminal mobility and its association with other organizational elements such as criminal collaboration in different settings, we provide insights into the structure and dynamics of criminal organizations and contribute to a richer understanding and conceptualization of how crime is organized.

Knowledge of factors contributing to cybercrime threats is needed to plan effective prevention strategies to combat the increasingly common occurrence of cybercrime. This scoping review summarizes current status of the literature published on the demographic, socioeconomic, and technological determinants of cybercrime offenders and victims in Nordic countries. The review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, leading to the selection of 16 articles published between 2013 and 2022 for critical appraisal and data extraction. Only two studies focused on cybercrime offenders. The majority of studies (n = 10) were conducted in Finland and the dominant types of crime were harassment and online hate. Age, gender, living alone, immigration background, income, and education played different roles in determining victimization for different types of cybercrime. Associations between victimization and technological factors such as computer skills, protective measures, and specific platforms have also been identified. This review contributes to the emerging research area of cybercrime in Nordic countries by mapping the context of cybercrime and highlighting areas where further research is needed to ensure the protection of individuals in an increasingly digitalized world. 

Introduction

Sweden is facing a surge of gun violence that mandates optimized prehospital transport approaches, and a survey of current practice is fundamental for such optimization. Management of severe, penetrating trauma is time sensitive, and there may be a survival benefit in limiting prehospital interventions. An important aspect is unregulated transportation by police or private vehicles to the hospital, which may decrease time but may also be associated with adverse outcomes. It is not known whether transport of patients with penetrating trauma occurs outside the emergency medical services (EMS) in Sweden and whether it affects outcome.

Method

This was a retrospective, descriptive nationwide study of all patients with penetrating trauma and injury severity scores (ISSs) ≥ 15 registered in the Swedish national trauma registry (SweTrau) between June 13, 2011, and December 31, 2019. We hypothesized that transport by police and private vehicles occurred and that it affected mortality.

Result

A total of 657 patients were included. EMS transported 612 patients (93.2%), police 10 patients (1.5%), and private vehicles 27 patients (4.1%). Gunshot wounds (GSWs) were more common in police transport, 80% (n = 8), compared with private vehicles, 59% (n = 16), and EMS, 32% (n = 198). The Glasgow coma scale score (GCS) in the emergency department (ED) was lower for patients transported by police, 11.5 (interquartile range [IQR] 3, 15), in relation to EMS, 15 (IQR 14, 15) and private vehicles 15 (IQR 12.5, 15). The 30-day mortality for EMS was 30% (n = 184), 50% (n = 5) for police transport, and 22% (n = 6) for private vehicles. Transport by private vehicle, odds ratio (OR) 0.65, (confidence interval [CI] 0.24, 1.55, p = 0.4) and police OR 2.28 (CI 0.63, 8.3, p = 0.2) were not associated with increased mortality in relation to EMS.

Conclusion

Non-EMS transports did occur, however with a low incidence and did not affect mortality. GSWs were more common in police transport, and victims had lower GCS scorescores when arriving at the ED, which warrants further investigations of the operational management of shooting victims in Sweden.

In recent years, the study of terrorism and violent extremism has increasingly benefited from the use of register data such as population data and judicial data. The use of this type of data brings with it many advantages, such as the ability to study complete populations, to combine different sources of data, and, often, it enables researchers to take on a longitudinal and comparative approach. However, the use of register data also brings with it some significant challenges, in terms of acquiring the data (practical challenges) and in terms of biases in the data (content/ethical challenges). In this paper we discuss the usage of register data in terrorism research, with a focus on the Dutch and Swedish context. Whereas both countries are to some extent similar in that they both have a rich data-infrastructure, differences also exist regarding the type of data, agencies responsible for collecting and distributing the data, and ethical approaches. In the chapter, we will go into the strengths and weaknesses of using register data in research on terrorism and violent extremism. Moreover, we will elaborate on how the use of register data can be improved, what type of research questions can and cannot be answered based on register data, and on potential opportunities of integrating register data into mixed-methods designs. 

What organized crime is and how it can be prevented are two of the key questions in both organized crime research and criminal policy. However, despite many attempts, organized crime research, the criminal justice system and criminal policy have failed to provide a shared and recognized conceptual definition of organized crime, which has opened the door to political interpretations. Organized crime is presented as an objective reality—mostly based on anecdotal empirical evidence and generic descriptions—and has been understood, as being intrinsically different from social organization, and this has been a justification for treating organized crime conceptually separately.

In this dissertation, the concept of organized crime is deconstructed and analyzed. Based on five studies and an introductory chapter, I argue that organized crime is an overarching concept based on an abstraction of different underlying concepts, such as gang, mafia, and network, which are in turn semi-overarching and overlapping abstractions of different crime phenomena, such as syndicates, street-gangs, and drug networks. This combination of a generic concept based on underlying concepts, which are themselves subject to similar conceptual difficulties, has given rise to a conceptual confusion surrounding the term and the concept of organized crime. The consequences of this conceptual confusion are not only an issue of semantics, but have implications for our understanding of the nature of criminal collaboration as well as both legal and policy consequences. By combining different observers, methods and empirical materials relating to dimensions of criminal collaboration, I illustrate the strong analogies that exist between forms of criminal collaboration and the theory of social organization.

I argue in this dissertation that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing. In fact, the dissertation illustrates the existence of strong analogies between patterns of criminal organizing and the elements of social organizations. But depending on time and context, some actions and forms of organizing are defined as criminal, and are then, intentionally or unintentionally, presumed to be intrinsically different from social organizing. Since the basis of my argument is that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing, I advocate that the study of organized crime needs to return to the basic principles of social organization in order to understand the emergence of, and the underlying mechanism that gives rise to, the forms of criminal collaboration that we seek to explain. To this end, a new general analytical framework, “criminal organizing”, that brings the different forms of criminal organizations and their dimensions together under a single analytical tool, is proposed as an example of how organizational sociology can advance organized crime research and clarify the chaotic concept of organized crime. 

Utmaningarna från våldsbejakande extremism och organiseradbrottslighet utgör ett hot mot demokratin och står därför högt på denpolitiska dagordningen. Genom sitt våldskapital och ambitionen attskapa parallellsamhällen och underminera det demokratiskasystemet utmanar dessa antagonistiska krafter direkt samhälletsinstitutioner, som statens legitima våldsmonopol ochtrygghetssystem. Att studera överlappningen mellan organiseradbrottslighet och våldsbejakande extremism är ett viktigt område,eftersom en symbios av dessa destruktiva krafter kan genereraallvarliga säkerhetsutmaningar, inte minst på grund av detvåldskapital som den organiserade brottsligheten besitter i Sverigeoch den övertygelse som exempelvis konfliktresenärer kan bära.Med utgångspunkt i dessa utmaningar har projektet undersökt omdet finns en överlappning mellan organiserad brottslighet ochvåldsbejakande islamistisk extremism i Sverige. Den samladeempirin i det här projektet visar att organiserad brottslighet ochvåldsbejakande extremism i allmänhet och våldsbejakandeislamistisk extremism i synnerhet är överlappande och delvis“sammanflätade” fenomen. Den våldsbejakande islamismen i Sverigeär som miljö fragmenterad, men det finns kluster av individer somhar hög grad av inbördes samarbete. Det innebär att det till skillnadfrån högerextremism inte finns en tydlig hierarkisk organisation somsamlar de mest aktiva extremisterna. Det är snarare en plattorganisering som består av olika noder av extremister som har enlokal förankring och är sammanlänkade genom digitala och analogainteraktioner.Våldsbejakande islamistisk extremism och organiserad brottslighetär vidare sammanlänkade genom rekrytering och samarbeten. Dessaföreteelser, oavsett om de är drivna utifrån ideologiska ellersocioekonomiska motiv, är både organiserade och många gångerrumsliga klustrade till socioekonomiskt svaga områden. Det gäller 6även kriminella konflikter där skjutvapen och handgranater används.Det finns samarbetskluster där individer ur den våldsbejakandeislamismen har samarbetslänkar till olika grupperingar inom denorganiserade brottsligheten. Det kan handla om brottsligasamarbeten såsom att organiserad brottslighet är en avsättningsytaför extremister att sälja stulen gods. Det kan också handla om attman som gängmedlem gör en karriär från gäng till extremism ochvidare tillbaka till gäng men bibehållen extremistisk identitet. Idenna process rekryteras likasinnade.För att förhindra och förebygga dessa företeelser behöver (blandmånga andra åtgärder) sammanhållna, riktade insatser, baserade pågemensamma framtagna problem- och lägesbilder, initieras. Varjeaktör, som nationella myndigheter, måste inventera på vilket sättman kan effektivisera sin verksamhet mot aktuella problembilder.Det är inte handlar inte främst om resurstillskott. Utan hur resurseranvänds. Det är bra att nya lagförslag mot antagonistiska företeelsersåsom gäng förs fram av riksdag och regering. Men vi behöver blieffektivare med de verktyg som redan finns på plats. Det behövsdärför fler utvärderingssatsningar på förebyggande åtgärder för attidentifiera vilka åtgärder som lämpliga och vilka åtgärder kan varakontraproduktiva. Det finns annars en risk att samhället tillför nyaresurser och initierar brottsförebyggandeåtgärder som i själva verketkan vara verkningslösa och i värsta fall rent kontraproduktiva. 

På några decennier har Sverige gått från att vara etniskt och religiöst relativt homogent till att bli ett av Europas mest mångreligiösa länder. Religion, migration och polisiärt arbete beskriver några av de utmaningar och möjligheter polisen kan ställas inför i ett pluralistiskt samhälle. I boken varvas teoretiska perspektiv med konkreta exempel på polisiärt arbete relaterat till religion och migration.

Bokens kapitel är skrivna av forskare och praktiker verksamma inom olika områden, och behandlar en lång rad ämnen: religions frihetslagstiftning, segregation, hatbrott, globala konflikter med lokala konsekvenser, klanstrukturer, hedersvåld, våldsbejakande extremism, bemötandestrategier, arbete med fördomar inom poliskåren samt utmaningar som konspirationsteorier och miljö relaterade hot som kan beröra polisens arbete.

Conceptual confusion is a recurring problem in society’s effort to control and eradicate gangs and organized crime. Government agencies, law enforcement, and other practitioners tend to apply the label “organized crime” to all forms of criminal organizing without any consideration of ecological and organizational differences. However, all forms of organized criminal collaborations exist on a continuum and vary in time and space. This conceptual confusion can have negative implications and consequences on criminal policy and crime prevention strategies. In this chapter, I discuss the results of two Swedish case studies and advocate for the value of identifying the type and level of organizing in the policing of gangs and organized crime. Finally, I discuss the need to distinguish between type of gangs and other forms of criminal organizations, and its relevance for social responses and policing.

Over the past 30 years, Sweden has witnessed a growth in criminal gangs. Gun violence among young males is also on the rise and have only recently gained wide political attention. Street gangs and gun violence are two prevalent, partially overlapping phenomena that constitute social challenges. Empirically supported legal, policy and practical frameworks are needed in order to reduce the prevalence of gangs and gang violence in Sweden. The first step is to recognize that gangs and gang violence are an emerging societal problem and to identify its root causes, organizational dimensions, and operational patterns. In this note, Swedish street gangs and gang violence are briefly discussed.

De svenska välfärdssystemen är omfattande och en av grundbultarna i det svenska samhället som värnar den sociala tryggheten. Brott mot välfärdsystemen, oavsett om det rör sig om organiserad brottslighet eller brott utförda av enskilda individer, riskerar att urholka tilliten till systemen och hota förtroendet för välfärdssamhället. För att upprätthålla legitimiteten krävs att rätt ersättning kommer rätt person och rätt företag till del. Bidragsbrott behöver förebyggas, upptäckas och beivras

Situationen när det gäller forskning om systemhoten är inte så dålig som det framställts. Men bristen på flexibilitet försvårar för tvärvetenskaplig forskning.