The aim of this paper is to examine how the rights of homeless children to housing and protection in accordance with articles 27 and 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are upheld in Malmö. The two research questions that are of particular interest in relation to this objective are firstly whether the Swedish parliament’s decision to incorporate the Convention on children’s rights into Swedish law has had a concrete effect on the implementation of children’s rights to housing and protection, and secondly how new guidelines that were introduced in Malmö in 2019 have had an impact on the same. The study is qualitative and employs an ethnographic approach based on conversations with 14 girls and 6 boys, which proceeded from photographs the children had taken of their housing situation and daily lives. The results show that homeless children and their needs and rights remain largely unseen in the work of the social services. The situation of this already vulnerable group has also worsened since our conversations with the children, since a majority no longer are part of the social services’ target group according to Malmö’s guidelines regarding homeless persons. It may be argued that such a result provides an indication both of society’s approach to children located on the extreme margins of society and of the way in which welfare provision has developed in Sweden. 

This article investigates the need and sources of knowledge among LSS administrators in Sweden (i.e. social workers handling service and support for individuals with disability according to the Swedish Disability Act [LSS]). Changing and challenging working conditions and issues concerning professional status warrant the aim. A questionnaire distributed via gatekeepers in a number of municipalities demonstrated that knowledge about ‘disability’, ‘law’, ‘ethics’ and ‘augmentative and alternative communication’ was rated highly. This result is particularly interesting given that many social work education programmes do not have compulsory courses in disability. Colleagues appear to be relied upon as essential sources of support and knowledge, but the knowledge sharing seems unorganised. Findings are discussed in relation to communities of practice (CoP) and shows that, due to the lack of essential knowledge from formal education and the strong dependence on colleagues, a locally developed praxis might be established. Inadequate theoretical and research-based knowledge, together with this local praxis knowledge, may result in the LSS administrators’ work becoming inadequate. A specialist education in disability studies is proposed as a prerequisite for being employed as an LSS administrator, and the inclusion of a theoretical and scientific framework in the regular CoP interaction is also recommended.

Since July 1st, 2020, honour is viewed as an aggravating circumstance in criminal cases in Sweden, and it is suggested that honour related violence and oppression should become a criminal offence in its own right. Interventions directed towards victims of honour crimes have been implemented, but fewer have targeted the offenders. The purpose of this article is to mirror the Swedish legal and discursive framework against the perspective of the perpetrators. While we discuss findings with relevance for practitioners, particularly in the light of recent legislative changes, our main focus is set on subjective understandings of honour crimes. In particular, questions about the perpetrators’ norms and worldviews, their perceptions of the concept of honour, and their experiences of the Swedish justice system are investigated. Using court verdicts and deep interviews, we highlight important themes under the following four headlines: (1) Collectivism, norms, and traditions, (2) Complexities of honour crimes, (3) Marginalization, social vulnerability, and stereotyping, and (4) Reflections in retrospect.

This article gives insight into some of the complexities that courts will have to handle given the recent and pending changes in Swedish legislation and provides knowledge that can be implemented in social and legal work to combat honour related violence and oppression.  

This article argues that court-ritual unawareness, linguistic shortcomings and stereotypical images about non-Swedish otherness impair the position and acting space for immigrants in a Swedish district court context. Drawing on two ethnographically informed research projects focused on courtroom interaction during more than 20 trials dealing with ‘domestic violence’ and ‘street-related crime’, we claim that immigrant voices are often silenced due to taken-for-granted practices in court. Through analyses of interviews, performances, interpreted hearings and references to a desirable Swedishness, it is argued that situations are created where immigrant participants may experience their possibility of being understood as limited and their voices as being unheard. Such conditions are emotionally draining and may result in participants choosing silence over stating their case. This is a problem, not only within the individual court case, but also for the overall legitimacy of the court system and for issues of institutional trust among citizens.

This paper addresses the risk of research exposing people with an immigrant background in criminal court cases to Internet-based racist persecution, due to mismanagement of general ethical guidelines. The principle of informed consent, ideally serving to protect people under study from harm may, in fact, cause them more harm due to the interest among certain Internet-based networks of spreading identifiable, degrading information. Arguments are based on ethically challenging experiences from two ethnographic research projects carried out in Swedish district court environments, focused on immigrant court cases. Ethical advice provided by ethical review boards and established research guidelines, were based on an unawareness of the potentially destructive rendezvous in media attractive immigrant court cases between ‘ethically informed’ research, crime journalism, freedom of information legislation and ‘Internet vigilantes’ on a quest to persecute court participants and their families in the global digital arena.

Regeringen föreslår nio åtgärder för att hitta och utvisa papperslösa. Det kommer att slå hårt och främst gå ut över redan svaga och jagade människor. Vi uppmanar därför regeringen att ta tillbaka åtgärderna, skriver 43 forskare.

En introduktion till utbildningar för myndighetsorganisationer som behandlar och ger service till människor i sitt arbete.

So far hardly any Swedish scientific projects have dealt with the rule of law in the area of health and medical care. Legal research concerning the area focuses on different aspects of patient rights, but not on the rule of law itself. The rule of law is a central requirement for theadministrative regulation and a decisive aspect of quality within the services of the public sector (Marcusson 2010). It is often perceived as a "silent" prerequisite and taken for granted among patients as well as among health care professionals. This has, in turn, led to a lack of analysis and research regarding the implementation of the rule of law, within the health care sector. The aim of our study is to investigate the rule of law as a central objective in compulsory psychiatric care. The overall aim is to include the rule of law as a necessary aspect of quality and find ways to operationalize the concept. The rule of law has special relevance in these situations, as the patient here finds him/herself in a particularly vulnerable situation, dependent on the care provider and subject to means that affect his or her integrity. Different versions of involuntary measures and the formal, as well as the substantial side of the rule of law are taken into account. Special attention is given to the fact that care is increasingly provided in collaboration with different care providers, and the possible implications this has for patients.

This article outlines Public Social Services’ encounters with irregular migrants in Sweden from the perspectives of institutional and street-level bureaucrats. Staff and executive considerations are influenced by a de jure exclusion of irregular migrants, which is an element of the control of migration. Staff face contradictory demands concerning international and national regulations, which leads to legal ambiguities open to discretionary powers. The aim of this study is to explore the handling of such cases experiences and considerations with an interest in the values that are invoked when AQ1 enacting discretion and to discuss implications of the unclear legal situation. The material was obtained using web-based questionnaires. A tentative analysis confirms that the Public Social Services encounter irregular migrants and that handling differs greatly. It suggests that different approaches and the contradictory legal framework endanger the rule of law. Differing reference points appear to be invoked when enacting discretion: some related to social work and others to controlled migration. The social work values invoked by some respondents might imply an appreciation of a right to services and control of migration as independent processes and jurisdiction related to human rights that are applicable beyond the nationally framed legal status and not subordinated to policies of migration.

Rätt till bistånd i äldreomsorg – etik, juridik, praktik och profession lyfter fram skilda perspektiv på såväl rätten till bistånd för äldre som själva biståndshandläggningen. Boken är framtagen i nära samverkan mellan forskare och praktiker. Tanken är att den, med utgångspunkt i aktuell lagstiftning och såväl generella som specifika exempel, ska kunna vara en hjälp i det dagliga biståndsarbetet.

This article outlines public Social Services’ encounters with irregular migrants in Sweden from the perspectives of institutional and front-line staff (or streetlevel bureaucrats). Staff and executive considerations are influenced by a de jure exclusion of irregular migrants, a part of the control of migration. Staff faces contradictory demands concerning international and national regulations, which leads to legal ambiguities open to discretionary powers and sometimes even arbitrariness. The aim is to explore the handling of such cases, experiences and considerations focusing cited values when enacting discretion and to discuss implications of the unclear legal situation. The material derives from two web-based questionnaires (national and local) and interviews with front-line staff handling cases concerning irregular migrants. A tentative analysis confirms that the public Social Services encounter irregular migrants and that handling differs greatly. It proposes that different approaches, a lack of guidelines and the contradictory legal framework endanger the rule of law. Differing and ambivalent fundamental values appear to be involved when enacting discretion: some related to social work and others to controlled migration. The controlled migration values cited by some respondents consisted of more and better border- control and better cooperation with the Immigration Services. The invoked social work values imply a conception of a right to social services and the control of migration as independent processes and jurisdiction related to human rights, essentially the crc, applicable beyond the nationally framed legal status and not subordinated to policies of migration.

Detta är en bok för dig som arbetar inom hälso- och sjukvården eller som kommer i kontakt med hälso- och sjukvårdens rättsliga regleringar. Boken redogör på ett lättillgängligt sätt för de delar av juridiken som avhandlar området. Den belyser även sjukvårdens bestämmelser om samverkan, i synnerhet med socialtjänsten, det vill säga även anknytande bestämmelser inom andra rättsområden.

En introduktion av förvaltningsrätt för de myndighetsorganisationer som vårdar, behandlar och ger service till människor (HSO).

Den här lagtextsamlingen omfattar ett mycket stort antal författningar - inte bara inom den specifika skoljuridiken utan också inom andra rättsområden som berör skolans och förskolans verksamhet. Den är avsedd att vara praktiskt taget heltäckande för det behov av tillgång till författningstext som finns hos dem som är yrkesverksamma inom skolområdet. Förutom såväl 1985 års skollag som den nya skollagen (2010:800) och där tillhörande författningar, omfattar denna lagtextsamling till exempel den nya offentlighets- och sekretesslagen, förvaltningslagen, lagen om offentlig upphandling, socialtjänstlagen, skadeståndslagen och delar av föräldrabalken och brottsbalken.

Förvaltningsrätt behandlar framför allt olika förvaltningsmyndigheters handläggning av ärenden, men även viss annan offentlig verksamhet samt förvaltningsdomstolarnas hantering av överklagans- och underställningsärenden. De allmänna förvaltningsrättsliga bestämmelserna liksom merparten av den speciella förvaltningsrätten ingår i denna förvaltningsrättsliga lagtextsamling.

Introducerande kommunalrätt för professioner som kan tänkas erhålla arbete inom kommunal förvaltning

Denna bok är avsedd att ge en grundläggande introduktion till det juridiska ämnesfältet. Framställningen tar sin utgångspunkt i statsskickets uppbyggnad, lagstiftningsprocessen, rättens källor och konkreta juridiska arbetsmetoder när lagtext skall tillämpas och tolkas. En del av boken ägnas åt Europarättsliga frågor.

Detta kapitel handlar å ena sidan om människor som uppehåller sig i Sverige utan tillstånd och å andra sidan om socialtjänstens, skolans, sjukvårdens med fleras uppdrag och ansvar. Som påpekas i Inledningen saknas det nästan helt säkra data om denna grupp. I avsaknad av registerdata och enkätundersökningar hänvisas man därför till den begränsade forskningen som existerar, mindre undersökningar, fallbeskrivningar och intervjuer som finns att tillgå. De flesta undersökningar grundas på uppgifter från dem som har sökt hjälp däremot finns det mycket begränsad information om den grupp vars hälsotillstånd kanske är mindre problematiskt. Kapitlet behandlar även de oförenligheter som kan uppstå mellan olika politikområden (migrationspolitik kontra social-, hälsovårds- och sjukvårds- samt utbildningspolitik) när människor befinner sig i Sverige utan lagligt stöd. Dessutom har staten även krav på sig att uppfylla och respektera de mänskliga rättigheter som omfattas av de internationella konventioner som Sverige har ratificerat.

This presentation focuses on irregular migrants´ entitlement to social services in Sweden. According to the European Council (2005) it is vital to incorporate the position of irregular migrants in the principle of social inclusion based on human rights discourse. Furthermore, the Council has pointed out that issues on social rights are unclear in regard of irregular migrants and addresses them in recommendations. This unclarity is confirmed by the case of Sweden. Irregular migrants in Sweden are a heterogeneous group with the common position that they lack required permits to stay in the country. They consist of rejected asylum-seekers, those who violated the terms of visa, other “over-stayers” and persons who entered irregularly. An initial study mapping the situation in Swedish municipalities´ social services showed that the number of irregular migrants varies, but an increasing amount of encounters are taken place. The empirical study shows that such cases are processed in very different ways and concerns a variety of social problems such as housing, social allowance, family law and domestic violence. Special concern seems to be taken to children and families with children in some municipalities. Furthermore, most municipalities lack policies or guidelines. This creates a possible base for arbitrariness and weakens the legal security for the irregular migrants and consequentially leaves a considerable discretionary space to the social worker in their role as street-level bureaucrats. The Swedish Social Services Act (2001:453) is a soft law which implies appreciable need of substantialization and involves legal interpretation and application in practice. In the case of irregular migrants this process is augmented, given the unclarity of the irregular migrants´ social rights. In sum, social rights for irregular migrants stand out as a field in need of further considerations and policymaking on national as well as international level, bearing in mind human rights obligations.

En introduktionsbok för professioner inom människobehandlande organisationer.