The new generation of gang desisters

Abstract

In recent years, gang exit programmes in Sweden and Denmark have seen an increase in gang desisters with a different profile than those originally targeted by the programmes. This group of gang desisters is predominantly young (between 15 and 30 years old), has been involved in severe violence and crime, and comes from marginalised and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Many face complex psychological problems, such as trauma and PTSD. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with 45 frontline gang exit programme staff in Sweden and Denmark, this article explores the challenges posed by the new generation of gang desisters. Our findings reveal that exit staff face significant challenges in assisting these individuals, in part because they are very young compared to the desisters previously in exit programmes, and because the new generation is characterised by an unprecedentedly high level of vulnerability, needs, and criminal entanglement. Exit workers find challenges in severing gang desisters’ ties with criminal networks, relocating them safely, and addressing their sense of isolation and social exclusion when relocated. We highlight the need for incorporating stronger prosocial support measures in exit interventions to create new opportunities for belonging and community for this group of vulnerable gang desisters.