Concerned about gang crime, the police took the country’s child protection institutions under special scrutiny last year.
The Swedish police published at the end of August an alarming report. According to a report commissioned by the police, several youth homes that receive support from the state and municipalities have ended up in the possession of criminal gangs.
During the last year, the authorities monitored 18 youth homes that offer open care to young people taken into the care of social services. The observation included youth homes from different parts of Sweden.
All but one of the monitored establishments were found to be connected to financial crime. Connections to organized crime were found in 60 percent of the institutions.
There were members of criminal gangs or persons convicted of crimes both among the owners of youth homes and among the staff. In about half of the institutions that were monitored, a close relative of a person convicted of a crime was appointed to head the operation.
The police consider it possible that youth home staff recruit vulnerable children into criminal gangs. The police also suspect that the staff helps young people to run away so that they commit crimes for the gangs.
You can make good money running youth homes
Connections of youth homes to criminal networks have become a hot topic in Sweden.
Among other things, the Swedish public broadcasting company SVT has found outhow privately owned youth homes could end up in the hands of gangs.
The spread of organized crime to the youth home market is not surprising, says an expert from the Swedish Economic Crime Agency Sara Persson for SVT.
In addition to the fact that gangs can get in touch with young people, you can also make good money by running youth homes.
– The municipality can pay up to 10,000 kroner (880 euros) per day for each young person placed, Persson says.
This is how a youth home or other child protection institution ends up in the hands of criminals
To establish a youth home in Sweden, a business license issued by the social and health authority is required. However, the entity that received the license can later sell the operation of the youth home to almost anyone without the sale requiring the approval of the authority.
Privately owned youth homes have been traded on, for example, Blocket.se, which is Sweden’s most popular online marketplace.
According to Persson of the Economic Crime Agency, it is possible that the owner of the youth home becomes exhausted and decides to sell his business because of it. However, this is not always the reason for trades.
– We have noticed that youth homes are also sold as if they were a business. People who meet the requirements for a license can sell their business to people who themselves do not meet the requirements for a license.
When the owner changes, the business license does not expire, which makes it possible for dishonest actors to have taken over child welfare facilities.
Changes of ownership must be reported to the authorities. However, buyers connected to criminal gangs have been able to use bullies or appoint people to the management of the companies they have bought, who are not actually responsible for their operations.
Supervision of the operation of youth homes is the responsibility of the municipalities. According to Persson, municipalities and authorities do not have the means to share information with each other when deficiencies are detected. At the moment, the police have to ask the municipalities separately about the permit issues of each youth home.
In addition to buying licensed companies, it is also possible for gangs to set up their own youth homes using outside help.
– It is possible to hire expert people such as lawyers who assist in setting up a company and applying for a business license.
Hats from open establishments are common
The investigation by the Swedish police also shows that a total of 2,865 people ran away from Swedish youth homes between January and November of last year.
Most of the wanted persons between the ages of 11 and 21 ran away from open homes intended for young people who had just been taken into care. There were only 304 escapes from closed youth homes for young people convicted of crimes.
According to the police, a total of 1,182 people ran away from youth homes during the monitoring period. Among them, the one who took the hats most often had been wanted up to 23 times.
60 percent of the young people who took the hats are suspected of having committed serious crimes during their run away.
These include firearm crimes, arson, unauthorized handling of explosives and attempted murder. According to the police, one in ten runaways by young people leads to serious violence.
The police consider both murders committed with firearms and incitement to shootings to be firearm crimes.