The study has mapped 439 people who were sentenced to closed youth care between 2015 and 2022. At least one fifth of them can be linked to criminal networks.
Those who have connections to criminal gangs commit crimes more often than those who have been sentenced to closed youth care but who do not have gang connections. Nine out of ten gang criminals reoffend, while just under seven out of ten who are not connected to gangs do so.
Gang affiliation can mean a risk for both more and more serious crimes, says criminologist Amir Rostami to the news agency Siren.
– Especially when you are younger, you need to do the so-called crap job. It will be transporting various goods or committing certain violent crimes to legitimize their existence in this grouping, to try to make a career and climb, he says.
The study also shows that 42 percent of all those sentenced to closed youth care were previously cared for with the support of LVU.