“Remove serious criminals from social services’ responsibility”
Michael Tärnfalk believes that today’s Degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Work is not up to the job when it comes to teaching students about youth crime. Photo: Getty images
Michael Tärnfalk is chairing a commission of inquiry that will look at how the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Work can prepare graduates for dealing with young offenders. He is convinced that Social Services currently do not have the resources needed for this, and advocates both more courses in this degree − and that another authority should take over responsibility for young criminals convicted of serious offences.
How do we deal with serious crime among young people? The issue has been widely debated after the shootings in the past few weeks. Michael Tärnfalk, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, has been commissioned by the Swedish Government to inquire into how the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Work should be changed in order to be able to deal with this type of criminality among young people in Sweden’s Social Services. He is convinced that social workers do not have those skills today.
“The care and treatment of this group is one of the most difficult tasks there is. Social Services are not built to have this responsibility. We don’t have a course worthy of the name for working with these problems,” says Michael Tärnfalk, Senior Lecturer and researcher in social work at Uppsala University.
Hard to reach with care and treatment
Michael Tärnfalk has been training social workers for over 20 years. He also worked as a social worker for ten years, and has been a foster home, and contact person, supervisor and resource person at after-school leisure centres. In his work, he has gained experience that has made him critical of Social Services’ capacity to deal with the type of youth crime we are seeing today.
“My opinion is that I think we should remove the group who commit serious crimes from Social Services’ social responsibility. I have suggested that another central government agency should have this responsibility. As things stand today, it is better to incarcerate this group, even if they are young. I don’t think we can reach them with care and treatment.”
“Kids have to realise for themselves that they have a choice, and that’s where the parental role is important. It is very difficult for to break this pattern at the community level,” says Michael Tärnfalk. Photo: Private
Isn’t there a risk that they will be even worse off from being incarcerated, that they will never be rehabilitated into the community?
“Could it be any worse than a 15-year-old being willing to murder someone else for money? I don’t mean that we should put them in prison and then do nothing; we should offer them opportunities to study and undertake various treatment programmes within the context of a prison sentence.”
According to Michael Tärnfalk, a longer prison sentence in a kind of juvenile institution could make it possible for these young criminals to turn their lives around. Without a chance of escaping, you can protect them from committing crimes that they would regret later in life. The threat of imprisonment may also make choosing a life of crime less attractive.
“16-year-olds won’t yet be fully cognisant of the negative sides of being a criminal. In addition, special treatment means that they don’t receive as long sentences as adults. This is why younger children are being used, because they have what is needed to get a shorter sentence. But it also means that we can alleviate the negative consequences of the life they have chosen.”
They are very young – can you really say they have chosen this life?
“Yes, I think it’s important that we highlight their responsibility for what they have done. We have been experts in making this a non-issue in Sweden. If you don’t believe a person is responsible for choosing this life, how can you believe that they can take responsibility for opting out of it and wanting to go into a treatment programme?”
He also stresses that he doesn’t think incarceration for 15-year-olds is a good thing. But by removing the worst criminals from Social Services’ sphere of responsibility, they and the institutional care operated by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care can work with young people that you can actually help.
“It sounds harsh to want to lock up 15-year-olds, and it’s not something that I think is a good thing, but it’s the least bad option compared to continuing to believe that we can treat these kids with something we don’t actually have.”
The Social Work Degree needs to change
The commission of inquiry on the content of the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Work will complete its task in the spring. But Michael Tärnfalk already has a fairly clear picture that the Degree needs to make way for new courses on the theme ‘social work with young offenders’.
“I don’t think that one course at first-cycle level and one course at second-cycle level is going to crack gang crime. But I think knowledge can give students a basis for understanding social work with this group, and give them an insight into what they need to know so they can then apply for other courses.”