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Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand

Professor

Department of Social Work
Telephone
+46 31-786 47 66
+46 766-18 47 66
Mail
cecilia.lofstrand@socav.gu.se
Visiting address
Sprängkullsgatan 25
41123 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 720
40530 Göteborg

About Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand

Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand is Professor of Social Work and Professor of Sociology at University of Gothenburg.

Hansen Löfstrand’s existing and ongoing research has two orientations.

She conducts research on different forms of policing. This includes the police authority’s camera surveillance and criminal justice investigations, the private security industry’s provision of policing and non-profit (civic) participation in policing.

She also conducts research about the margins of welfare society. This includes both the work performance of employees and experiences of vulnerable service users.

Overall, her research is characterized by an interest in power, governance, social control, policing, legitimacy, the rule of law and legal certainty.

Hansen Löfstrand currently leads the research project From police investigation to court verdict: mass video surveillance for criminal justice purposes, funded by the Swedish Research Council 2023-2026. This project provides knowledge about when and how recordings from surveillance cameras is used by Swedish police and courts to solve crimes. Based on observations of investigative work and interviews with police authority employees, prosecutors, lawyers, and judges, as well as observations of trials and analysis of verdicts, knowledge about when and how recordings from surveillance cameras are used and made useful in the legal process is produced. Such knowledge is needed to determine whether the current expansion of camera surveillance in society is justifiable. In addition, the limits of mass surveillance also need to be identified, i.e., under what conditions and with what limitations surveillance of people in general is justifiable to solve crimes in democratic societies. From Police Investigation to Court Verdict: Mass Video Surveillance for Criminal Justice Purposes | University of Gothenburg

Hansen Löfstrand teaches courses in social work, second and third cycle courses. She has extensive experience of teaching social work, sociology, criminology and qualitative methods as well as supervision at all levels, including in postgraduate education.

Hansen Löfstrand leads the research platform Social exclusion and control at the Department od Social Work at the University of Gothenburg. Social exclusion and control | University of Gothenburg

Hansen Löfstrand is a member of the European Research Consortium on Criminal Exploitation (ERCCE)