Patrik Olsson

Research Areas

• Child Rights and Juvenile Justice
• Criminal Gangs
• IT and Social Change

Current Research

Patrik Olsson’s research and teaching focus on aspects surrounding the rule of law within disparate socio-legal contexts by using socio-legal theory and methodological tools to understand the research areas in question.

His ongoing research is particularly focused on marginalized children and juveniles and their socio-legal conditions in some of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where everyday life is characterized by conflicts between criminal gangs, trafficking of drugs and arms, interventions by the police, and aspects of discrimination as well as social exclusion.

Brazil will also host the FIFA World Cup 2014 and the Summer Olympics 2016. Rio de Janeiro will get attention for its spectacular natural beauty but also for its deeply rooted social problems.

Selected Publications

• Olsson, Patrik, (2012), Children and Human Rights, in the Routledge Handbook of Critical Criminology, DeKeseredy, Walter.S., & Dragiewicz, Molly. (Eds.). (2012). London: Routledge.
• Olsson, Patrik, (2012), Trafficking, child soldiers and globalization of the legal field, in Borders and Crime: Pre-crime, Mobility and Serious Harm in an Age of Globalization edited collection. McCullough, J., Pickering, S.,(Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Publishers Ltd, United Kingdom
• Olsson, Patrik, (2008), Law and Cyber Society: Socio-legal perspectives on the Internet, in the Scandinavian Studies in Law Volume 53 – Law and Society (Wahlgren, P., ed.), 2008, pp.391-407, Stockholm, Stockholm Institute for Scandinavian Law.