In Sweden, as well as in many other European countries, the vulnerability of unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) has been addressed both in the public debate and by governmental and non-governmental organisations. Two issues that have been raised as a source of concern are the mental health of the minors and the occurrence of substance abuse. In this chapter, we explore the patterns of substance abuse and mental health problems among URMs (N = 60) who have been referred to outpatient clinics for adolescents with substance use problems in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. Findings indicate that many URMs who begin outpatient treatment for substance abuse have significant mental health problems (84%), but only a few have contacts with child and adolescent psychiatric (CAP) clinics (15%–30%). Drawing on existing knowledge on the association between mental health problems and drug use, close collaboration is required between substance use clinics and CAP clinics.

Introduction: Drug market related violence has plagued Sweden in the last decade and has geographically been linked to open drug scenes, ODSs. Surveys have been used to identify ODSs in local police districts in Stockholm County since 2017. The present study analyzes how ODSs and hot spots of police-reported crime relate to geographical indicators of systemic drug market violence.

Method: Drug hot spots are identified using clustering methods. Drug hot spots and ODSs are then both geographically matched with markers for organized crime to analyze the extent to which they can serve as geographical markers for systemic drug market related violence. The markers for organized crime employed are shootings and organized crime related activities described in court cases that include encrypted phone texts.

Results: Our findings suggest that drug hot spots are a rather weak predictor of systemic drug market related violence, whereas ODSs function reasonably well, particularly in the case of ODSs in areas with an established presence of criminal networks.

Conclusion: Measuring drug market locations is complex, but drug market related violence can be understood geographically by linking typical gang-related crimes to places with open drug scenes.

This study addresses a gap in gun violence research by examining firearms seizures made by the Stockholm police in 2022. We analyse 184 cases, describing patterns of dischargeable firearm seizures (trends, types, places, and links to narcotic offences) and explore spatial associations of firearms with area-level living conditions, vulnerability, proximity to open drug scenes, and shooting frequency. The spatial analyses find that firearm seizures are concentrated in areas experiencing lower living conditions, near open drug scenes, and where shootings are more frequent, which is in line with research on gun violence. Furthermore, the results show that most seized dischargeable firearms are pistols, often found in residential or semi-private settings and frequently linked to narcotics offences. These patterns reflect the broader challenges facing disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Monitoring firearm seizure characteristics could inform police strategies on gang conflict patterns and resource allocation.

Aims: Open drug scenes (ODS) have increasingly drawn the attention of the police and municipalities in Sweden. These locations, where illicit drugs are sold and/or consumed, are often associated with various forms of disorder and crime. While ODS are typically depicted as a phenomenon predominantly found in larger cities, their prevalence and characteristics in smaller cities remain underexplored. This study aims to analyse the patterns and characteristics of ODS, as identified by the police and municipalities, across a range of cities in southern Sweden. Methods: By utilising spatial and temporal analyses of police-reported crimes and demographic statistics, this research examines the characteristics of identified ODS and their connections to socioeconomic disadvantage. Results: The findings suggest that the identified ODS in smaller cities share similar patterns to those found in prior research and in larger urban areas, characterised by lower socioeconomic status and elevated crime rates. Conclusions: Police and municipalities in smaller cities identify places in their communities that closely resemble, although are not necessarily equivalent to, an ODS. Nevertheless, these places are disproportionately burdened by social problems and require targeted assistance.

The well-being of neighbourhoods in terms of socioeconomic conditions constitutes an important element in analyses focused on the explanation of crime trends and public safety. Recent developments in Sweden concerning gun violence and open drug scenes are worrying and the police are under a great deal of pressure to resolve the situation in many neighbourhoods, which is in turn affecting Swedish society as a whole. This study focuses on micro areas in terms of sociodemographic factors and the presence of drug markets and gun violence. The aim is to explore the relationship between these factors and what characterises areas that are experiencing the greatest difficulties. The study develops an index for the prediction of gun violence in micro areas, in this study portrayed by vector grids. The findings show an overlap between gun violence and drug markets and that micro areas in that overlap share harsh sociodemographic conditions. The study produces an index indicating the probability that a grid cell would experience gun violence. The index was then validated using recent gun incidents, and was found to have high accuracy. The resulting grids constitute a suitable target for resource allocation by police and other actors. This could facilitate a more accurate and precise focus for measures to prevent areas from becoming—or to disrupt already existing—hot spots for gun violence.

A randomised controlled trial was developed and implemented together with police officers working to combat drugcrime at an open drug scene in Stockholm. The aim was to evaluate a method called motivational talks, which areheld by police officers to encourage drug crime suspects to seek help. Relapse into drug crime was compared betweenthe control group and the experimental group to determine whether the treatment, i.e., the motivational talk, had aneffect. The study shows that motivational talks had a small but non-significant impact on relapse into drug crime afternine months, but the effect had disappeared at the second follow-up. Motivational talks might still have other effectson the individual or the police. Studying the use of repeated treatment might be a way of furthering the research onthe effect of motivational talks.

Although cannabis is the most frequent illicit drug consumed in Sweden, little is known about the situations in which cannabis trade, possession and use occur. Following a recent strand of international research on the effect of recreational drugs on crime, this study uses a unique specially tailored database, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and regression models, to investigate the situational conditions of cannabis offenses as they are detected in Stockholm, Sweden. Cannabis coincides with the location of drug markets initially delimited by the police but also extends over to locations far from the radar of the police, such as private residences (comfort places). Modeling results indicate that several land uses (convergent public places) have significant predictive value of the geography of cannabis offenses after controlling for other neighborhood characteristics. The article finishes by stating new research questions and making recommendations for practice.

There is a surge in gun violence in Sweden. Prior research has shown how these expressions of violence tend to be concentrated in space. For instance, there is an increased risk of a shooting occurring in close proximity to a prior shooting in the three largest cities in Sweden, especially at open drug scenes (ODS) in socially disadvantaged areas. Furthermore, prior research has found a clear spatial connection between shootings and the presence of ODS in Stockholm. However, less is known about the patterns of gun seizures. How does spatial patterns of gun seizures overlap with shootings and the presence of ODS and how can these be used to advance police practice? Such questions are important to add nuance to the overarching view on “gun violence”. The present study aims to explore the questions by converging three types of data drawn from the Stockholm region: one on gun seizures, one on gun incidents and another on the presence of ODS. With the use of spatial data analyses, we learn whether there are systematic differences in the patterns of gun seizures, gun incidents and the presence of ODS. The importance of nuanced data and how the results can be used by the police in their strategic work is discussed. The results may advance both police activities towards gang criminality and future research on gun violence.

Policing research has had an upswing as the evidence-based policing movement has grown stronger and entered police practises worldwide. Within the evidence-based policing (EBP) approach, practically and academically skilled individuals, pracademics, have attracted attention as facilitating the merging of policing practice and research.

Using principles from EBP, and with a special focus on translating between policing practice, policy and research, this thesis aims to explore the characteristics of illicit drug markets with a place-based focus and to link this to the enhancement of EBP in Sweden. The theoretical base of the thesis is drawn from disorganization theory, routine activity theory and situational action theory, and these theories are combined with empirical studies from the research field of drug markets.

Drug markets are defined as open drug scenes (ODSs) in this pracademic thesis, which includes two empirical studies of patterns that characterize ODSs, one randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a law enforcement tactic at an ODS, and one case study of the impact of the pracademic research approach. The findings show that there are almost 50 ODSs in Stockholm County, which are characterized by patterns of crime concentration, a gun violence overlap, and associations with perceptions of unsafety. Three types of ODSs were identified, providing a basis for the tailoring of future interventions based on area characteristics, ODS stability, levels of violence, and gang activity. Micro places associated with ODSs and gun violence were found to be characterized by harsh social conditions and high levels of crime. A predictive index was created to forecast micro places at which gun violence may occur, and the prediction was enhanced when ODSs were included as predictive locations. The RCT, which was completed at a well-known ODS in the inner city of Stockholm, showed a slight but non-significant effect of the police conducting motivational talks with offenders, which gave rise to questions regarding the method’s effectiveness. The case study of the RCT process found frustration in police departments to be a possible door-opener for research. Ease of implementation was associated with the research having credibility among police officers, which was achieved by including the needs of practice in research questions and through the role played by the pracademic researcher.

This thesis argues for making use of pracademics to bridge the research-practice gap, a focus on ODSs, and the testing and tracking of methods such as hot spots policing, with an emphasis on properly implemented evidence-based methods and on the goals of enforcement strategies as a means of improving the effectiveness of drug-market policing.

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.