Sweden faces a flambé of violence linked to gang wars. Faced with this explosion of crime in which more and more young adolescents are participating in will or force, the government is trying to find ways to reverse this trend.
Of our correspondent in Stockholm,
With almost one shooting a day in recent years, the kingdom is the European state most affected by the settling of scores and, in one year, the number of young people under 15 suspected of murder, complicity in murder or attempted murder has almost tripled in Suede. They are called the children soldiers. They are sometimes only ten or eleven years old and are committed as a hitman because they have not reached the age of criminal responsibility set at fifteen. A boon for gangs living in drug trafficking.
“” I haven’t really recruited, but I asked adolescents to do things for me, such as destroying evidence or exploding buildings in buildings, testifies Victor, 25, former member of a gang in Stockholm. But more often than not, they were teenagers who came to see me themselves. The main reason to engage in gangs is money, of course. Money and a form of status. I know what I was looking for was to be respected. »»
Things that Jonas Soderlund, local coordinator, recognizes in the children he meets in schools, in the street or youth centers. His job is to prevent children from turning to crime. “” Today, I take care of children from the age of six. It can start like that :: For example, the child is lent a beautiful brand hat by someone, he explains. The next day, the person says that he wants to recover it and tells him that there is a stain on it. Now you owe me € 300. Then there are threats, pressures and then we are stuck. »»
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“” It is tragic that we have come to the point of thinking about this kind of law »»
Faced with the explosion of crime among minors, the right -wing government, supported by the extreme rightwants to authorize the police to secretly monitor telephone calls and electronic communications for young people under the age of fifteen. It is also a question of imposing as a preventive basis the wearing of the electronic bracelet at some from the age of fifteen.
Controversial measures which question the fundamental values of the Swedes. “” It is tragic that we have come to the point of thinking about this kind of law, regrets Robert, father of a fifteen -year -old teenager. In general, I am against everything that can violate the integrity of people, especially when it comes to minors. But crime has spread so much that I understand the need. Things have to change. »»
“” Children who may turn to crime, what they need is help, defends Germay Woldu, head of an association who takes care of reintegrating former prisoners and prevention with young people. Put an electronic bracelet on their feet while leaving them in the same environment, that will not prevent them from having criminal activities. »»
The government is currently studying the possibility of lowering the age of legal responsibility to fourteen and allowing the police to immediately remove illegal content on social networks. The authorities clearly go to the offensive and try to combine repression, surveillance and prevention, at the risk of encroaching on individual freedoms.
To listen to the correspondentsSweden, Quebec, South Africa: increasingly young adolescents recruited by gangs