Men and boys still dominate the statistics on violent crimes, according to figures from BRÅ. But there has been a change. Statistics show that the number of girls aged fifteen to seventeen who are prosecuted for violent crimes has increased by fifteen percent in the last ten years.
The police have also noticed the same trend. They have seen an increase in the number of reports of younger girls committing violent crimes.
– It’s often about girls who are more than one and who go after another girl you know, says Carin Götblad, police chief at NOA.
Glorification and normalization
Götblad says they notice a heroification and glorification of violence when they talk to young people. She describes it as a culture.
– It’s terrible, she says.
Even Jenny Yourstone, PhD in psychology at Södertörn University, notices a change in attitude towards violence. She says that she experiences a normalization of violence, which she believes is spread via social media, for example in the form of videos where people carry out gross acts of violence.
Differences between girls and boys
However, there are differences in how girls and boys commit violent crimes, according to Yourstone. In the case of young girls, the victim is to a greater extent someone they know and the motive is more often relationship-related. Among guys, it can be that you kill someone you don’t know.
– But it is still very unusual for young girls and women to commit such serious crimes compared to boys and men, even if the numbers are now increasing a little.
However, Yourstone believes that the numbers among young girls who commit violent crimes may increase over time.
– It will take time before we can reverse this development. This means that we will also see more girls and women participating in these criminal activities.