[citation needed] He studied geodesy in Poland[3] and earned a Ph.D. in sociology at Stockholm University in 1978.

From 1977 to 1986, he worked as a researcher at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, where he focused on juvenile delinquency.

[3] Sarnecki is frequently invited to comment on current affairs by public service broadcaster Swedish Radio and has participated in the programs Radio P4,[6] Godmorgon, världen!,[7] Dagens Eko,[8] and Tankesmedjan.

[10] In August 2018, in an interview with public broadcaster SVT, Sarnecki said that the Uppdrag granskning (an investigative journalism TV show) episode where reporters analysed the nationality of convicted rapists should never have been broadcast and criticized the reporters for making a connection between rape crime and ethnicity.

He also stated, in view of earlier research, that he thought that the major reason would be socioeconomic factors.