In several cases in recent years, most recently during the wave of violence in Stockholm during the Christmas holidays, it has been shown that young people suspected of weapons offences, murder and attempted murder have deviated from HVB homes. Something that SVT Nyheter has mapped.
– No young person is born a criminal. The fact that today we have as young as ten-year-olds being recruited into criminal networks, that is of course completely unacceptable, says Social Services Minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M).
There are many roots in the problem and many parts of society must work together, notes the minister and says that she wants to take “a collective approach to the whole situation”. Among other things, the government wants to give social services new tools such as changed confidentiality between different authorities, which according to Camilla Waltersson Grönvall will be included in the new Social Services Act to be presented at the beginning of 2024.
– We are now adding investigations to get new tools and new legislative proposals in place.
Want to see changes in the law
Employees at HVB accommodation that SVT Nyheter has spoken to and Sweden’s municipalities and regions (SKR) believe that the staff need to be given increased powers, called by some restriction measures. This may involve temporarily confiscating a mobile phone if you suspect that someone is selling drugs or entering someone’s room to see if there are weapons.
– Drugs and weapons are already illegal today, so it goes without saying that you should be able to do something about this situation, and when it comes to mobile phones, we need to get new proposals in place, says Waltersson Grönvall.
The minister also believes that underage boys who have committed crimes and are active in criminal circles should not be placed in HVB homes at all.
According to The Tidal Agreement as concluded between the government and the Sweden Democrats, the responsibility for the most seriously criminal young people is to be moved from the municipalities to the Correctional Service.