‘We can't help you – it doesn't concern us’: the legal consciousness of young people seeking asylum in Sweden who report violent crime

Abstract

Young people seeking asylum face many different forms of violence, including violent crime, yet their illegalization, as well as their experiences of police contact and border violence, often lead to reporting of crime not being perceived as a safe or viable option. But what are the experiences of those who, in spite of their fears, do attempt to engage with law by reporting crime? Drawing on in-depth interviews with Omid, Hussein, and Akram – three young men who have sought refuge in Sweden – this article examines their attempts to mobilize law as victims of crime at the intersection of restrictive migration controls and welfare exclusions. I argue that the legal consciousness of young people in this situation is shaped by the same legal structures that create the underlying conditions for their victimization as well as by other people's perceptions of how law operates in relation to their legal status. Relationships of trust, friendship, and support can aid engagement with the criminal justice system, yet such engagement often results in re-victimization instead of protection and a lack of meaningful remedies, reinforcing feelings of disenchantment with law.