Statistics show that more and more children under the age of 15 end up in gang crime and are used for serious crimes. According to the Tidö Agreement, therefore, an investigation has been set up to review whether Sweden should lower the criminal justice age.
Today, children who are under 15 and commit crimes cannot be sentenced to punishment. If a minor lives a destructive life with, for example, abuse or crime, the child can be placed on a locked HVB home for a limited period.
In his work, the area police officer Stefan Larsson meets many children who are in gang criminals. His experience is that children under the age of 15 who have committed crimes often end up in open departments from which they quickly accommodate.
– They leave because there are no locked departments. It is a lot of work that we really put on nothing, says Stefan Larsson.
Triple of children suspects in murder cases
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, 120 children under 15 were suspected of murder, assisting with murder or attempted murder last year. It has been almost a triple since 2023 when 46 children were suspected of involvement in murder cases.
Stefan Larsson does not think that the police’s existing tools are sufficient.
– Then you can have other criminal measures, such as youth prisoners to be able to lock them in so that they disappear from the area and cannot adversely affect.
Children’s rights organizations critical
In Sweden, children under 15 have not been criminal since 1864. Many child rights organizations and authorities such as BRIS, Save the Children and the Ombudsman for Children are critical of a reduced penal age.
– If we were to lower the age of criminal authority in Sweden, it is an exceptional transfer of the view of children in the criminal system, says Anna Dorrian, child rights lawyer at Bris.
Socionom Emma Nord, who previously worked as a social secretary with children involved in serious crime, is also critical.
– Behind every crime that a child commits, there is a perpetrator who has exposed this child. It is not a natural environment for children to be locked up and not be allowed to be with their parents or caregivers.
On Tuesday, the government’s investigators will present their conclusions about reduced penalties.
In Agenda on January 26 (SVT 2 21:15), Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M) and the Center Party’s legal policy spokesman Ulrika Liljeberg (C) debate the subject.