Umeå University's logo

The aim of this study is to examine the Swedish population's attitudes about the causes behind violence in society, and how these attitudes influence their position on criminal policy proposals. By analyzing underlying dimensions of attitudes towards the causes of violence and how political ideology, political interest, media consumption and social capital relate to these dimensions, and their impact on criminal policy proposals. The findings show that ideology, and partly social capital, play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards the cause behind violence in society. Individuals on the right-wing tend to explain violence with immigrants, whereas those on the left-wing tend to explain it with social vulnerability and media culture. Additionally, people with higher social capital tend to focus on social issues rather than blaming media culture or immigration. The results also show that those who consider media culture and immigration to be important factors for the causes behind violence in society, tend to support criminal policy proposals such as limiting democracy to deal with crime, toughener punishment for gang crime and deporting non-citizens convicted of violent crimes. Those who associate social vulnerability and home, and education with the cause of violence, also tend to have negative attitudes towards punitive policy proposals. These insights deepen the understanding of how different factors shape people's perceptions of violence and criminal policy in Sweden.