Firearm violence in Sweden decreased sharply in 2024. Preliminary figures from the Police Agency show that there are far fewer shootings than before and that the number of gunshot wounds has halved compared to previous years.
– Part of the explanation can be the combined efforts of politicians and the police, says criminologist Manne Gerell to TV4 Nyheterna.
The high number of gun violence in the country has caused the eyes of the world to be directed at Sweden and neighboring countries to tighten border protection against us. Sweden continues to struggle with gun violence, but the development seems to be moving in the right direction after all.
The number of shootings has decreased this year and is now on par with 2017, preliminary statistics from the Norwegian Police Agency show.
The statistics also show that significantly fewer are injured and slightly fewer killed in shootings.
The reason not clarified
The reason for the decline is not yet clear. But the criminologist Manne Gerell sees several possible explanations, including the major political reforms that have been carried out within the justice system.
– Part of the explanation can be the combined effort from politics and the police in the last decades, where they have invested very heavily in doing something about the problems, says Gerell.
But he also warns that new conflicts may flare up.
– One concern that one can have is that we now have hundreds of teenagers who have been caught for involvement in gang violence.
These will hit the streets within a few years and then there is a risk that new conflicts will flare up.
“Haven’t had time to act yet”
The criminologist Sven Granath believes, however, that the Swedish criminal policy with tough legislation and tougher punishments had a marginal effect on crime.
– There are no major criminal policy reforms behind this and no major legal changes, because they have not had time to work, Granath tells DN.
One reform that he considers to have had an effect, however, is the increase in the minimum sentence for serious weapons crime since 2018, which means automatic detention on suspicion of crime.
– Otherwise, it is traditional police methods that have been sharpened, he tells the newspaper.
254 shootings have occurred in Sweden up to and including November this year, according to the police preliminary statistics. In those shootings, 39 people have been killed and 53 injured. Since then, two more people have been murdered with firearms in December, TT reports.