Welcome to the Stockholm Criminology Symposium

It is my honour and privilege to welcome you to the 18th Stockholm Criminology Symposium, an annual international meeting place for criminologists, policy-makers and others with an interest in knowledge-based criminal policies.

The main theme this year is Trust and legitimacy in the work to combat crime, which is in line with the work of the two winners of The Stockholm Prize in Criminology 2024, Professors Gary LaFree and Tom R. Tyler. Under this umbrella, we will learn from the latest research on how negative handling and experiences can lead to a lack of trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system among suspects, crime victims, witnesses, and the general public, and how this can lead to a higher risk for crime. Fortunately, we will also learn how the police and other authorities can act to obtain higher trust and in this way contribute to lower risks for crime. We will also be enlightened on the importance of trust in societies at large, not only among individuals, but also between people and social institutions, and how this is connected to tendencies towards either a peaceful society or social disorder and crime.

This year’s second and complementary theme is When children commit crime. Here we will pay special attention to new knowledge on children who are, at a young age, on track towards a life of crime. We will examine how some of them are drawn into criminal activities by people in their neighbourhood, as well as how some come to be exploited by criminal networks. We certainly need insights into what we can do to prevent and stop the ongoing exploitation of children in the context of criminal activities and save them from a life of crime.

Finally, we also have the ever present and broader theme Contemporary criminology, where a large number of presentations will provide us with an overview of the current state of knowledge in many areas of criminology, crime policy, related fields of research, and relevant experiences on decision making and practice.

This year’s program features about 250 speakers who will present their research and share their experiences in about 70 parallel sessions. This is possible because of all the generous speakers from different parts of the world, who have volunteered and comprise the rich program of the symposium; for this we are extremely grateful. We are, of course, also very pleased to see that the symposium is back so strongly after the pandemic.

In addition to the above, we have also arranged three major sessions that everyone can attend at the same time. The first one is the opening discussion called Researchers’ Advice to Policy, where the Swedish Minister for Justice Mr. Gunnar Strömmer will put forward questions to be answered by the prize-winning Professors Gary LaFree and Tom R. Tyler. The prize winners’ lecture, where the laureates themselves will present their research, will be held on the second day of the symposium. This will be followed by the long-awaited grand prize ceremony, where the prize will be presented by Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden. The third and final day of the symposium will include the Jerry Lee lecture, which this year will be delivered by Professor Alex R. Piquero.

I warmly welcome all of you to the event and hope you will have three rewarding and inspiring days that will remain in your memory for a long time to come.

Mattias Larsson
Director General, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention