The present thesis examines the empirical pathways of how a crime prevention unit works with participants, who wants to desist from crime. The thesis examines how the unit works with the participants on their social context and related risk factors to backsliding into crime. Resocialization is important, not only for the former criminals, but also for society, where resocialization and desistance from crime entails a safer society and fewer victims. The crime prevention unit works with participants who has been in and out of crime for majority of their lives. Their focus is to assist former convicts in leaving behind their criminal pathways to start over and become a part of the law-abiding society. The data consists of ten expert interviews focusing on the how the employees of the crime prevention unit in Copenhagen work with the participants.
During the coding of the ten interviews, it was found that the employees have multiple ways of working with the participants’ change. The analysis is structured around to three overall themes: 1. step by step, 2. relationship and 3. self-insight. The thematic areas arose from the initial data processing, which revealed the experts working patterns were largely structured around these categories. The categories consist of broad emotional functions such as working with the participants’ worldviews, their reactions to challenging situations and specific stimuli, and was based on the employee’s approach to the participants. The experts guide the participants to replace elements of their life that pulls them towards crime with factors that can help them desist. Examples of this includes work, education, stable living conditions and so forth. These interventions do not always work, and sometimes old trickers such as money, trills or friends are more attractive to the participants than the life they would gain from desistance.
In the discussion, the thesis considers if rehabilitation works and if so, at what price. It is concluded that rehabilitation has a monetary, ethical, and humanitarian gain which cannot be ignored. The thesis concludes that the experts relay on building a trustful and equal relationship with the participants by trusting in the participant and their future. Furthermore, the employees work with the participants’ resistance and motivation during the entire course, focusing on making the participant more independent. Finally, the experts work with the participants’ reactions, emotions, and overall reflection on life to make it easier for the participants to fit in to society.