Over a thousand children and young people have been identified by the police as network criminals – Leif GW Persson believes it is about more people than that.
He does not believe in harsher punishments and lowering the sentencing age as a solution to the problem.
– It’s a simple way to make people worse actually. There is a colossal overconfidence in that kind of action and that kind of legislation and it is demonstrably naive, he says.
Around 1,200 network criminals are under the age of 18 and 170 are children under the age of 15, according to a survey by the police. But according to Leif GW Persson, it should be about more people.
– I have tried to find the basis for those calculations. In this case, I think it’s an understatement. It wouldn’t be so strange considering that you obviously have a very limited knowledge of these environments and the people in the environments, he says.
GW: The problem with the Swedish police
A big problem according to GW is that we have so few police officers out in the field. This means that not enough reported crimes are brought into the legal system that lead to punishment, he says.
– We have the world’s most expensive police force in Sweden per police officer. This is not because they have improbably high salaries, but because we have a colossal bureaucratic superstructure. Fewer than half of the employees are active with the actual mission: maintaining public order, intervening in emergency situations and investigating serious crimes.
“Very strange form of rehabilitation”
Politicians often talk about harsher punishments and a lower sentencing age, but there are many who advocate softer measures. Leif GW Persson believes that these young people live in tough conditions and that it would be best if it could be ensured that they grew up with functioning adults.
– Instead, they slap early penalties on them and put them in closed institutions like this where they are only allowed to hang out with people who are even worse outside. It is a very strange form of individual rehabilitation. It goes against everything about how to make people better. There is a colossal overconfidence in that kind of action and that kind of legislation and it is demonstrably naive.