There are promising features in the reduction of violent crime in Sweden, but according to the police, criminal activity as a whole has not decreased.
Violent crime in Sweden has been a big topic of conversation for almost the entire 2000s. Clashes between gang criminals in particular have caused widespread concern, as gangs fight each other with shootings and bombings.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DR) has made an analysis of the development of violent crime in recent years.
Based on the information received from the Swedish Police Administration, the newspaper has compiled a statistic showing the shootings that took place in Sweden between 2017 and 2024. The figures apply to the period from January to July each year.
The statistics show that the numbers increased until 2022, when there were 246 shooting incidents in January-July. After that, the numbers have decreased and this year they have been recorded at 164. August will not change the trend, DN says.
At the same time, the number of people killed and injured in shootings has decreased from the peak years.
Shootings claimed 42 victims two years ago in January-July, this year the number dropped to 22. There have been 31 wounded this year, compared to 78 in the peak year of 2018.
During the same period last year, there were 101 explosions, this year only 66, according to DN’s figures.
Police: The overall picture is still worrying
The police tell the newspaper that despite the promising statistics, the level of “criminal activity” in Sweden has not decreased.
The quantitative decrease in shootings is mainly the result of the calm down in the Stockholm area. In other large cities such as Gothenburg, Malmö and Uppsala, a similar reduction has not been observed.
Gang crime has also acquired other, threatening features.
Gangs recruit more and more minors to commit acts of violence. They can be more easily attracted to serious crimes, because young people have a lighter punishment.
The police have also observed that in revenge attacks between gangs, family members or even complete strangers are often chosen as victims instead of the actual target person. The purpose is therefore to threaten or pressure the target more and more, and the perpetrators of the attack do not care who actually becomes a victim.
It must also be remembered that a violent cycle often starts suddenly and can expand in an unpredictable way.