Mette-Louise Eskildsen Johansen

Senior Researcher

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Key Expertise:

Prevention,
Crime,
Vulnerable persons,
Inequality and social heritage

Page created Wednesday, November 23, 2022 Page updated Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Selected research projects

Project
1. JAN 2022 — 30. JUN 2026

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Group violence Intervention Evaluering

Project
1. SEP 2022 — 31. DEC 2027

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Crafting Resilience

Project
1. APR 2023 — 31. AUG 2027

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Relational Policing

Project
1. MAJ 2023 — 1. JAN 2026

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

NSFK application GVI

Publications

Scientific articles

Scientific article
2026

Hedlund, A., Johansen, M.-L. E., & Tutenges, S. (2026). The new generation of gang desisters: Key challenges facing gang exit support structures in Sweden and Denmark. European Journal of Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14773708251408233

Scientific article
2026

Johansen, M.-L. E., Hedlund, A., & Tutenges, S. (2026). Nordic policy responses to gang-related crime 2009-2025: Policy developments and future challenges in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-026-09662-3

Scientific article
2026

Tutenges, S., Johansen, M.-L. E., Hedlund, A., & Sandberg, S. (2026). The street crime paradox: An ethnographic study of pathways into and out of street crime. The British Journal of Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azag023

Scientific article
2026

Mellgren, C., Johansen, M.-L. E., Fynbo, L., & Ivert, A.-K. (2026). Transferring focused deterrence to the Nordic context: Legal compatibility and the limits of GVI in Denmark and Sweden. Nordisk Tidsskrift For Kriminalvidenskab , 113(3), 287-306. https://tidsskrift.dk/NTfK/issue/view/13891

Scientific article
29. OCT 2025

Jensen, S., & Johansen, M.-L. E. (2025). Violent exchange: Towards a global criminology of exchange relations in criminal justice practices. Theoretical Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806251380692

Scientific article
1. JUN 2025

Stapele, N. V., Vollebergh, A., & Johansen, M.-L. E. (2025). Introduction: Un/Doing Authority and the Hinge between Moral Orders and Ethics. Social Analysis, 69(2), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2025.690201

Scientific article
MAR 2024

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2024). Relational Police Work: How Police Officers Work With, On and Through ‘Personal Relationships’ in a Danish Gang Exit Programme. The British Journal of Criminology, 64(2), 292-307. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad025

Scientific article
SEP 2022

Koning, A. D., Johansen, M.-L., & Marchesi, M. (2022). Introduction Special Issue: Paradoxical Orders: Parenting Encounters, the Welfare State and Difference in Europe. Ethnography, 23(3), 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138120919448

Scientific article
SEP 2022

Johansen, M.-L. (2022). Fraught parenting: Immigrant parents chronic double-bind in Denmark. Ethnography, 23(3), 404-423. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138119892018

Scientific article
13. AUG 2022

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Grøn, L. (2022). Special Issue Introduction: Intimate Belongings—Kinship and State Relatedness in Migrant Families in Denmark. Genealogy, 6(3), 1-10. Article 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6030070

Scientific article
5. MAY 2022

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2022). Intimate belonging – intimate becoming: How police officers and migrant gang defectors seek to (re)shape ties of belonging in Denmark. Genealogy, 6(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6020040

Scientific article
2021

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. (2021). Book review of Fabien Truong's "Radicalized Loyalties: Becoming Muslim in the West". Ethnos, 85(5), 966-968. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2019.1668817

Scientific article
2021

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., Warburg, A. B., & Maya Mynster, C. (2021). Frictional security governance: Policing the crime-terror nexus in Denmark. Perspectives on Terrorism, 15(4), 111-124. https://pt.icct.nl/article/frictional-security-governance-policing-crime-terror-nexus-denmark?#

Scientific article
JUN 2020

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. (2020). Epidemic policing: The spreading of counter-radicalization in Denmark. Environment & Planning D: Society and Space, 38(3), 472–489. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819864119

Scientific article
1. AUG 2019

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Løvschal, M., Gullbekk, S. H., Johansen, M.-L., O'neill, S., & Willerslev, R. (2019). Human Sacrifice and Value. Antiquity, 93(370), Article e23. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.104

Scientific article
SEP 2018

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. (2018). Navigating the politics of anxiety: Moral outrage, responsiveness and state accountability in Denmark. Conflict and Society, 4(1), 9-22. https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040102

Scientific article
2018

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L., Sandrup, T., & Weiss, N. (2018). Introduction to Special Issue: Moral Outrage – The Generative Power of Political Emotions. Conflict and Society, 4(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040101, https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040101

Scientific article
2017

Johansen, M.-L. (2017). Velfærdsstaten set fra udsatte flygtningeforældres perspektiv: ”Tillid” som markør for social inklusion. Dansk Paedagogisk Tidsskrift, 3, 7-16.

Scientific article
2017

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Jensen, S. B. (2017). 'They want us out': Urban regeneration and the limits of integration in the Danish welfare state. Critique of Anthropology, 37(3), 297-316. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X17719990

Scientific article
2016

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. (2016). Mor på fængselsbesøg. Jordens Folk - Etnografisk Tidsskrift, 51(3-4), 26-33.

Reports

Mini report
23. FEB 2026

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., Tutenges, S., & Hedlund, A. (2026, Feb 23). Ways out of Street Crime: A Comparative Study of Street Crime Desistance in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd.

Report
16. JUN 2025

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Fynbo, L. (2025). Forenet Mod Vold: Erfaringsopsamling fra Københavns Politis afprøvning af strategien ’Group Violence Intervention’. VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd. VIVE Rapport

Report
31. MAR 2022

The Elderly
Management and implementation
The Social Sector
Health Care
The Elderly, Management and implementation, The Social Sector, Health Care

Johansen, M.-L. E., Grønfeldt, S. T., & Wentzer, H. S. (2022). Vidensafdækning: Sundhedsindsatser på socialområdet: Et casestudie af fire sundhedsindsatser til håndtering af somatisk sygdom hos borgere med betydelig nedsat fysisk eller psykisk funktionsevne eller sociale problemer. VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd. VIVE Rapport

Report
22. NOV 2021

Management and implementation
The Social Sector
Children, Adolescents and Families
Management and implementation, The Social Sector, Children, Adolescents and Families

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2021). Bandeexit i Østjyllands Politi og Aarhus Kommune. VIVE Rapport

Report
2018

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Albrecht, P., Christensen, M. M., Johansen, M.-L., Kyed, H. M., Mutsaers, P., Pauschinger, D., Stepputat, F., Colona, F., Matallana-Villarreal, J., Moe, L. W., von Stapele, N., Bræmer Warburg, A., & Andersen, M. K. (2018). From Aarhus to Manila: Policing Practices in a Global Perspective. DIIS - Danish Institute for International Studies.

Books and book contributions

Book contribution
2. OCT 2025

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Jørgensen, A. H. (2025). Relationer på spil: Unges relationsarbejde mellem flygtningefamilien, vennerne og politiet. In M. Rytter, E. L. Mortensen, & S. B. (Eds.), Flygtningefamilier i forandring: Kærlighed, omsorg og nære relationer (pp. 173-189). Aarhus Universitetsforlag. https://unipress.dk/udgivelser/f/flygtningefamilier-i-forandring/

Book
2022

Koning, A. D., Johansen, M.-L. E., & Marchesi, M. (Eds.) (2022). Special Issue: Paradoxical Orders: Parenting Encounters, the Welfare State and Difference in Europe. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/etha/23/3

Book
2022

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Grøn, L. (Eds.) (2022). Special Issue: Intimate Belongings—Kinship and State Relatedness in Migrant Families in Denmark. MDPI. Genealogy Vol. 2-3 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/genealogy/special_issues/migrant_family_denmark

Book
2018

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L., Weiss, N., & Sandrup, T. (Eds.) (2018). Moral Outrage. Berghahn Journals. Conflict and Society Vol. 4 No. 1 https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/conflict-and-society/4/1/conflict-and-society.4.issue-1.xml

Book contribution
2017

Johansen, M.-L. (2017). ”Aarhus indsatsen”: Udveksling og relationsarbejde i den danske velfærdsstat: The Aarhus Model: Exchange and Relational work in the Danish Welfare State. In A. Anderson, S. A. E. Høgestøl, & A. C. Lie (Eds.), Fremmedkrigere: Forebyggning, straffeforfølgning og rehabilitering i Skandinavia (pp. 265-296). Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.

Book contribution
2007

Johansen, M.-L. (2007). Med lidelse i centrum: Empowerment på et rehabiliteringscenter for traumatiserede flygtninge. In B. Bjerge, & B. Selmer (Eds.), Det sociale arbejdes daglige praksis: perspektiver på brugerinddragelse og retssikkerhed (1 ed., pp. 95-114). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

Book
2006

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L., Mouritsen, T., & Montgomery, E. (2006). Towards a Concerted Effort: Networking to Prevent Youth Crime in Traumatized Refugee Families. Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims.

Book
2006

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L., Mouritsen, T., & Montgomery, E. (2006). Mod en fælles indsats : netværksarbejde til forebyggelse af ungdomskriminalitet i traumatiserede flygtningefamilier. (2 ed.) Rehabiliterings- og Forskningscentret for Torturofre.

Theses

PhD thesis
2013

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. (2013). In the Borderland: Palestinian Parenst navigating Danish Welfare State Interventions. Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

Debate contribution

Debate contribution
25. AUG 2025

The Social Sector
The Social Sector

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Fynbo, L. (2025). Forskere: Vi bekæmper ikke vold ved blot at straffe den hårde kerne af bandemiljøet. Altinget.dk Social & Forebyggelse. https://www.altinget.dk/social/artikel/vive-vi-bekaemper-ikke-vold-ved-at-straffe-den-haarde-kerne-af-bandemiljoeet

Feature article
11. NOV 2013

Johansen, M.-L. (2013). Sårbare familier kan falde helt ud over kanten: Kommunerne kommer ofte til kort over for traumatiserede flygtningefamilier. Politiken, 1.

Feature article
31. MAR 2009

Johansen, M.-L., & Jensen, S. (2009). Vi glemmer forebyggelsen: Bandeopgøret blev til et opgør mellem de politiske partier om dagsordenen på integrations- og retsområdet, og det fik fjernet fokus fra diskussionen om kvaliteten af den forebyggende indsats. Dagbladet Information, 1.

Selected research projects

Group violence Intervention Evaluering

Crafting Resilience

Relational Policing

NSFK application GVI

Publications

Scientific articles

Hedlund, A., Johansen, M.-L. E., & Tutenges, S. (2026). The new generation of gang desisters: Key challenges facing gang exit support structures in Sweden and Denmark. European Journal of Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14773708251408233

Johansen, M.-L. E., Hedlund, A., & Tutenges, S. (2026). Nordic policy responses to gang-related crime 2009-2025: Policy developments and future challenges in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-026-09662-3

Tutenges, S., Johansen, M.-L. E., Hedlund, A., & Sandberg, S. (2026). The street crime paradox: An ethnographic study of pathways into and out of street crime. The British Journal of Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azag023

Mellgren, C., Johansen, M.-L. E., Fynbo, L., & Ivert, A.-K. (2026). Transferring focused deterrence to the Nordic context: Legal compatibility and the limits of GVI in Denmark and Sweden. Nordisk Tidsskrift For Kriminalvidenskab , 113(3), 287-306. https://tidsskrift.dk/NTfK/issue/view/13891

Jensen, S., & Johansen, M.-L. E. (2025). Violent exchange: Towards a global criminology of exchange relations in criminal justice practices. Theoretical Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806251380692

Stapele, N. V., Vollebergh, A., & Johansen, M.-L. E. (2025). Introduction: Un/Doing Authority and the Hinge between Moral Orders and Ethics. Social Analysis, 69(2), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2025.690201

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2024). Relational Police Work: How Police Officers Work With, On and Through ‘Personal Relationships’ in a Danish Gang Exit Programme. The British Journal of Criminology, 64(2), 292-307. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azad025

Koning, A. D., Johansen, M.-L., & Marchesi, M. (2022). Introduction Special Issue: Paradoxical Orders: Parenting Encounters, the Welfare State and Difference in Europe. Ethnography, 23(3), 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138120919448

Johansen, M.-L. (2022). Fraught parenting: Immigrant parents chronic double-bind in Denmark. Ethnography, 23(3), 404-423. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138119892018

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Grøn, L. (2022). Special Issue Introduction: Intimate Belongings—Kinship and State Relatedness in Migrant Families in Denmark. Genealogy, 6(3), 1-10. Article 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6030070

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2022). Intimate belonging – intimate becoming: How police officers and migrant gang defectors seek to (re)shape ties of belonging in Denmark. Genealogy, 6(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6020040

Johansen, M.-L. (2021). Book review of Fabien Truong's "Radicalized Loyalties: Becoming Muslim in the West". Ethnos, 85(5), 966-968. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2019.1668817

Johansen, M.-L. E., Warburg, A. B., & Maya Mynster, C. (2021). Frictional security governance: Policing the crime-terror nexus in Denmark. Perspectives on Terrorism, 15(4), 111-124. https://pt.icct.nl/article/frictional-security-governance-policing-crime-terror-nexus-denmark?#

Johansen, M.-L. (2020). Epidemic policing: The spreading of counter-radicalization in Denmark. Environment & Planning D: Society and Space, 38(3), 472–489. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819864119

Løvschal, M., Gullbekk, S. H., Johansen, M.-L., O'neill, S., & Willerslev, R. (2019). Human Sacrifice and Value. Antiquity, 93(370), Article e23. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.104

Johansen, M.-L. (2018). Navigating the politics of anxiety: Moral outrage, responsiveness and state accountability in Denmark. Conflict and Society, 4(1), 9-22. https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040102

Johansen, M.-L., Sandrup, T., & Weiss, N. (2018). Introduction to Special Issue: Moral Outrage – The Generative Power of Political Emotions. Conflict and Society, 4(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040101, https://doi.org/10.3167/arcs.2018.040101

Johansen, M.-L. (2017). Velfærdsstaten set fra udsatte flygtningeforældres perspektiv: ”Tillid” som markør for social inklusion. Dansk Paedagogisk Tidsskrift, 3, 7-16.

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Jensen, S. B. (2017). 'They want us out': Urban regeneration and the limits of integration in the Danish welfare state. Critique of Anthropology, 37(3), 297-316. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X17719990

Johansen, M.-L. (2016). Mor på fængselsbesøg. Jordens Folk - Etnografisk Tidsskrift, 51(3-4), 26-33.

Reports

Johansen, M.-L. E., Tutenges, S., & Hedlund, A. (2026, Feb 23). Ways out of Street Crime: A Comparative Study of Street Crime Desistance in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd.

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Fynbo, L. (2025). Forenet Mod Vold: Erfaringsopsamling fra Københavns Politis afprøvning af strategien ’Group Violence Intervention’. VIVE - Det Nationale Forsknings- og Analysecenter for Velfærd. VIVE Rapport

Johansen, M.-L. E. (2021). Bandeexit i Østjyllands Politi og Aarhus Kommune. VIVE Rapport

Books and book contributions

Koning, A. D., Johansen, M.-L. E., & Marchesi, M. (Eds.) (2022). Special Issue: Paradoxical Orders: Parenting Encounters, the Welfare State and Difference in Europe. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/etha/23/3

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Grøn, L. (Eds.) (2022). Special Issue: Intimate Belongings—Kinship and State Relatedness in Migrant Families in Denmark. MDPI. Genealogy Vol. 2-3 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/genealogy/special_issues/migrant_family_denmark

Johansen, M.-L., Weiss, N., & Sandrup, T. (Eds.) (2018). Moral Outrage. Berghahn Journals. Conflict and Society Vol. 4 No. 1 https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/conflict-and-society/4/1/conflict-and-society.4.issue-1.xml

Johansen, M.-L. (2007). Med lidelse i centrum: Empowerment på et rehabiliteringscenter for traumatiserede flygtninge. In B. Bjerge, & B. Selmer (Eds.), Det sociale arbejdes daglige praksis: perspektiver på brugerinddragelse og retssikkerhed (1 ed., pp. 95-114). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

Johansen, M.-L., Mouritsen, T., & Montgomery, E. (2006). Towards a Concerted Effort: Networking to Prevent Youth Crime in Traumatized Refugee Families. Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims.

Johansen, M.-L., Mouritsen, T., & Montgomery, E. (2006). Mod en fælles indsats : netværksarbejde til forebyggelse af ungdomskriminalitet i traumatiserede flygtningefamilier. (2 ed.) Rehabiliterings- og Forskningscentret for Torturofre.

Theses

Johansen, M.-L. (2013). In the Borderland: Palestinian Parenst navigating Danish Welfare State Interventions. Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

Debate contribution

Johansen, M.-L. E., & Fynbo, L. (2025). Forskere: Vi bekæmper ikke vold ved blot at straffe den hårde kerne af bandemiljøet. Altinget.dk Social & Forebyggelse. https://www.altinget.dk/social/artikel/vive-vi-bekaemper-ikke-vold-ved-at-straffe-den-haarde-kerne-af-bandemiljoeet

Johansen, M.-L. (2013). Sårbare familier kan falde helt ud over kanten: Kommunerne kommer ofte til kort over for traumatiserede flygtningefamilier. Politiken, 1.

Johansen, M.-L., & Jensen, S. (2009). Vi glemmer forebyggelsen: Bandeopgøret blev til et opgør mellem de politiske partier om dagsordenen på integrations- og retsområdet, og det fik fjernet fokus fra diskussionen om kvaliteten af den forebyggende indsats. Dagbladet Information, 1.

Areas