[Source: Reuters]
A surge in gang-related shootings and bombings over the last decade, dozens of which were carried out by minors, has set Sweden apart from its European peers and left authorities an urgent problem: what to do with children who kill.
The government, in power since 2022 and heading into a tight election in September where crime is a key issue, says the softly-softly approach of the past has failed and it’s time to get tough by sending children aged under 15 to prison rather than into social care.
However, some experts and lawmakers warn this is the wrong approach.
Sweden is fighting a wave of gang crime, with networks active in drug dealing, large-scale fraud and robbery that earn them around 185 billion Swedish crowns ($20 billion) a year.
Police estimate there are 17,500 active gang members and 50,000 associates.
Gangs use social media to recruit teenagers, and in some cases children as young as 11, to commit murders and bombings across the Nordics.
