Response to interpellation 2024/25:329 on the recruitment of children and young people to LSS residences
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the government's crime policy aims to break the recruitment of children and young people in LSS residences through social prevention, investigations to reform child and youth care, and by removing secrecy barriers 1 2. M emphasizes that the social preventive strategy takes into account the need for in-depth knowledge and targeted interventions 3. M believes that the current vulnerabilities are due to the fact that interventions were not made 10–13 years ago 4. S argues that criminal networks use sophisticated methods to recruit children in LSS residences and that there is a lack of a deeper analysis of this recruitment base 5 6. S requests a target group-adapted strategy with targeted interventions for staff training 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Anna Wallentheim has asked me what measures, from my area of responsibility, I plan to take to counter the recruitment of children from LSS residences into criminal networks. Anna Wallentheim has also asked me how I and the government intend to strengthen the cooperation between school, social services, and the justice system to identify and protect vulnerable children at an early stage.
I want to frame the question by stating that the government's reorganization of crime policy primarily concerns three parts: striking at gross violence, strangling the criminal economy, and breaking the recruitment of children and young people. Breaking the recruitment is particularly urgent when it concerns children and young people who are placed in various forms of social care and who risk being exploited by organized crime. Children living in LSS-housing can, due to their functional impairment, be particularly vulnerable to being recruited into criminal networks.
The Government has appointed several inquiries with the aim of reforming and reviewing parts of the social child and youth care. This includes, among other things, creating more places (S2023/03211), reforming the state child and youth care (dir. 2024:13) and strengthening the care environment at HVB and making it safe and secure for children and young people (dir. 2024:18).
We are also working to give the law enforcement authorities the opportunity to use covert coercive measures against children under 15 years of age (SOU 2024:93). Today, I have been in the Committee on Justice and confirmed that our plans will be in place as early as this autumn instead of summer 2026 as was intended. The background to this is, of course, that it is absolutely crucial in order to be able to solve more serious crimes, but also to reach the criminals higher up in the hierarchy who order the crimes and control the children.
In addition to this, we will also take action in various areas regarding online recruitment. Recently, the Crime Prevention Council (Ju2025/00155) and the Swedish Defence Research Agency (Ju2025/00157) were commissioned to increase knowledge on how criminal networks recruit and influence children and young people in social media and other digital environments and to propose concrete measures against this issue. At the same time, we are conducting a dialogue within the framework of EU cooperation and directly with the digital platforms regarding what can be done against online recruitment.
A clearer direction is also required for social crime prevention work. Last year, the government decided on a national crime prevention strategy, Barriers to Crime (skr. 2023/24:68), which aims at exactly this. The strategy has a broad social preventive approach with a particular focus on breaking the gangs' recruitment of children and young people. A number of authorities have, in cooperation with regional and local actors on the government's assignment (Ju2023/02529), established a structure to keep the work together with children and young people who risk committing serious crimes in environments linked to organized crime. The purpose is that effective and purposeful measures shall be taken for this target group.
I also want to highlight that a new and more preventive Social Services Act is proposed to enter into force on July 1 this year (prop. 2024/25:89). We are also removing confidentiality barriers so that school, police, and social services can share information to a greater extent. If everything goes as planned here in the House, it should be in place and enter into force on May 1.
We are investing in expanded parental support and a more accessible child and adolescent psychiatry. We also continue the investment in school social teams, which is a way for the school and social services to work together to increase students' attendance in school, create a calm and safe school environment, and ensure that students receive the right support at an early stage. We know that a good schooling strengthens the future prospects of children and young people and is one of the most important protective factors to prevent exclusion, crime, substance abuse, and ill health.
To the image also belongs that the social services must be given the right conditions to be able to intervene early if a child or a young person risks being drawn into crime. Proposals have been referred (S2024/02012) concerning that interventions for children and young people in open forms shall be decided earlier and in more cases than today, even without parents' consent. According to the proposal, social welfare committees shall also be able to decide on interventions in open forms for guardians without their consent and be able to combine such a decision with a fine.
Overall, the government is implementing a long series of measures to develop and support the preventive work to stop the recruitment of young people into criminal networks. We are continuously considering new measures.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Madam Speaker! We are facing a serious and deeply worrying development where criminal networks are targeting children and young people in LSS residences for recruitment. These residences, intended for young people with mental disabilities and extensive care needs, have become a new target group for the gangs' destructive activities. According to investigators at the Swedish Crime Prevention Council, criminal networks have begun recruiting children with clear disabilities at just these residences. We could also follow this in the media during the autumn and winter, and that was the background to my interpellation.
The children who are recruited are often shy, introverted and in great need of support, which makes them extra vulnerable to manipulation. The gangs use incredibly sophisticated methods such as long-term influence via social media and threats of economic debt to force these children and young people to commit serious violent crimes. It is a frightening development that we must take most seriously.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that children often lack sufficient support in school and extracurricular activities, and that early interventions from society are missing. This creates a vicious circle where the most vulnerable children in our society end up caught in a squeeze and exploited by criminal forces.
Madam Speaker! Leisure time plays a crucial role in preventing exclusion and crime. After I had submitted my interpellation, I had the privilege of being contacted by the organization Passalen, which works to include children and young people with disabilities in leisure activities. They work to provide such support directly in the municipalities. They highlight a serious deficiency, namely that children do not receive sufficient support. The municipalities are cutting back on resources, there is a lack of knowledge about these children's needs, and the opportunities for meaningful leisure time are decreasing. When support and, above all, context are lacking for these children, the risk of isolation and thus also for recruitment into gangs increases.
At the same time, we see how children and young people are exposed to increasing consumption of violence online. Serious violent crimes are spread on social media, and the normalization of violence affects their view of what is right and wrong. Studies show that high exposure to violence increases the risk of both participation in crime and apathy towards the consequences of violence.
Stopping the recruitment of children from LSS residences is not just about us having to be tough on gangs. It is also about strengthening protective factors. We must invest in inclusive leisure activities, train staff, and break the culture of violence online. This requires coordination between the justice system, school, leisure activities, and social services, but also clear leadership from politics. We cannot wait. Reports show that this is happening here and now.
Madam Speaker! My question, based on the development we are seeing, is how the Minister for Justice intends to ensure that the preventive work against recruitment – including in schools and leisure activities and when it comes to protection against digital influence – does not fall through the cracks when it concerns just this group of children and young people. It needs to be prioritized in the government's strategy.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to Anna Wallentheim for the opportunity to discuss this very important issue!
It appears from the question, and is highlighted by people who are knowledgeable in this subject, that it is important to keep in mind that it is not the disability itself that constitutes the great risk. Instead, it is about the vulnerability that can result from a disability in relation to society and if there are deficiencies in the surrounding society's support for these children. It creates vulnerabilities that others with destructive purposes can exploit.
Much of the toolbox that I am responsible for targets children over 15 years of age, even though we are now making a number of different reforms aimed at increasing the justice system's efficiency at younger ages. There is an awareness that one cannot start working with these children when they are 15 years old without having to start much earlier to create protection around them. It is about preschool, child healthcare, schooling, and not least working with the parents and building trust. That type of measure forms the basis for being able to subsequently provide the support that the child needs.
Even though the lion's share of the work may lie with others than just the Ministry of Justice, there is no doubt that all parts of society must contribute in different phases of a child's development in order to protect them against this type of criminal actors. I shall point out the parts that I think are important to emphasize.
The government's overall strategy is about social prevention. Barriers against crime is a preventive strategy, and it emphasizes the importance of social prevention. Even though the strategy has been developed with the Ministry of Justice as the engine, it has of course been done in broad cooperation with other actors in society in areas such as social policy and education policy. The purpose is to create a common focus and a common approach when it comes to preventing children and young people from being drawn into crime. This is not least about children who are vulnerable for the reasons we are now talking about.
Let me also conclude this part of the discussion by highlighting a reform that is on the Riksdag's table, which, if everything goes well, will enter into force on May 1. It is the large and broad reform that aims to tear down secrecy barriers between school, social services, police, and so on. It is absolutely crucial, because when one gets down to the vulnerability and the importance of different actors being able to cooperate to protect children who in different ways are vulnerable or are in the risk zone, information sharing between different actors is A and O. That we now finally get such a large and broad reform in place will be significant for many, not least for the children we are talking about today.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister for Justice has in his response emphasized the government's overall strategy to combat crime, with a focus on striking against gross violence, strangling the criminal economy, and breaking the recruitment of children and young people. These efforts are of course important and necessary for us to stop, among other things, the new recruitment. But when I have been in contact with Passalen and municipalities, they have stated that there is a lack of a deeper analysis of this new type of recruitment.
We are aware that there has been a new recruitment of children and young people for far too long, but an incredibly large number of testimonies arrived this autumn after the report from Brå was presented. Even individuals' testimonies about being recruited began to reach the media. This kind of recruitment had not been seen coming. This was a new recruitment base.
As the minister mentions, it is not the disability itself that is the problem, but rather that there may be a lack of consequence-thinking and that one is often very isolated and alone. This makes one very easily manipulated and easy to influence. Concrete measures aimed at these children and young people are therefore incredibly important.
The Minister further mentions that several inquiries are being commissioned aimed at reforming social child and youth care, and gives a mandate to the Crime Prevention Council and the Total Defence regarding increasing knowledge about criminal networks and what the recruitment of children and young people looks like in digital environments. This is incredibly important.
The Minister also mentions the secrecy barriers. I believe that all parties for far too long have felt that this is something we need to overcome. Of course, municipalities, authorities, schools, and social services must be able to talk to each other in order to stop the recruitment.
Some of these proposals, however, miss exactly this specific group of children and young people. That is actually the very reason for my interpellation. I wanted to highlight for the government and the minister how important it is to have a focus on this new recruitment that is taking place.
We need targeted efforts to educate staff at LSS residences. We also need to identify the signs of recruitment that exist but that we miss all too often. We must also strengthen the cooperation between residences, schools, social services, and the police to detect early and prevent these children from being drawn into crime.
In summary, I call for a more detailed and target-group-adapted strategy from the Minister and the Government to protect children in LSS residences from being recruited by criminal networks. General measures are not enough; we need certain specific, targeted interventions that take into account these children's unique needs and vulnerabilities.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! First, I want to say that the general strategic measures, which in and of themselves concern crime prevention, are naturally not limited to certain groups. They also lack the inability to capture new phenomena that emerge over time. We have seen how the recruitment of criminal networks has changed and developed over time in many more respects than just regarding this specific vulnerable group of children and young people. Therefore, the key to a well-functioning, effective strategy in this area is to take into account that the measures we are now directing towards organized crime will naturally result in it regrouping and finding other ways to operate.
However, the overall social preventive strategy for crime prevention measures has taken this into account. This does not in any way go against what Anna Wallentheim is requesting, that is, in-depth knowledge of and targeted measures for the children and young people we are talking about here. I note that this work is ongoing and that it is being done at the right pace and in slightly different areas.
The problem has indeed been noticed both from the police's side and from the Crime Prevention Council, as Anna Wallentheim mentions. Ivo has also noticed the issue. In March, in other words, in the near future, we can look forward to a report from the Agency for Participation. In it, they compile knowledge on the links between disability and early recruitment into criminal networks. They will also provide recommendations on how the problem should be addressed in different ways. This is a basis that many have reason to look forward to.
Even though the authority itself or perhaps the majority of the recommendations that will be presented do not fall within the Ministry of Justice's area – that is to say, without actually knowing – we will take part in the report with great interest and contribute to the whole from the society's side becoming strong and effective in relation to these children and young people and their vulnerabilities, and to us from the justice system's side doing our part in the work.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking the Minister of Justice for the answers I have received today. The Minister is probably aware that we Social Democrats have many times directed our strongest criticism at the government when it comes to the work against recruitment and with the preventive measures, and that these parts are being missed. Often, one is prepared to resort to very repressive measures in order to tighten the screws and get at the gangs and the increased crime.
Many of the measures that have been raised today have focused on the preventive work, on how we can increase knowledge about how children and young people are recruited and on the digital environments, but also on the work within the school and parental responsibility. I believe that it is important for us to move forward in the issue.
In previous debates with the Minister for Justice, I have mentioned how important it is that we turn off the tap to new recruitment and do not just pour water out of the bathtub to stop this. By focusing on new recruitment, we can reduce the serious crime that we see in society.
Today we have had the opportunity to discuss one of the questions that I believe is most acute for the safety of children and young people, namely how we stop the recruitment into criminal networks. We have also focused on how recruitment occurs from LSS residences. It concerns children and young people with extensive care needs who often lack strong social networks and are therefore extra vulnerable in today's society and to the influence of gangs.
The Minister of Justice highlights broad measures to stop the recruitment of young people, and even though we have talked about general measures, I hope that these children do not once again fall through the cracks. The signals that I almost always receive from the social services, Passalen, and the municipalities are that this is about children who always risk falling through the cracks because no one is really prepared to take responsibility for them. I hope that the minister takes this with them in the government's continued work.
We must realize the importance of investing in preventive work, such as leisure activities, social inclusion, and school. Sometimes resources may be lacking, and I believe we are in need of more money for welfare. With these words, I thank you for the debate.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by acknowledging that the Social Democrats very often claim that crime prevention is the government's blind spot. In that case, I usually respond in a way that I am well entitled to do today as well: Unfortunately, we do not have an enormous amount to learn from the Social Democrats in this regard. The children who today are 12, 13, 14, or 15 years old were 2, 3, 4, or 5 years old when the Social Democrats took office.
Perhaps it will be highlighted in just that question we are now discussing. Those who know these issues emphasize that it is actually too late to make interventions when the children are 15 years old and that it is about working very early, from preschool age, during school age, and so on. We must conclude that the 14, 15, and 16-year-olds with disabilities who today are vulnerable to gang recruitment is largely due to interventions that were not made 10, 12, or 13 years ago.
I still want to emphasize the importance of these issues being raised. For my part, I cannot escape my responsibility in the position I hold, and I believe that I and many others have the opportunity to influence the situation.
I think it is important to have a broad social-preventive approach to crime prevention work that includes children and young people who are vulnerable for various reasons. I am pleased that we have made a decision on a strategy that can direct society's collective resources in one and the same direction in terms of crime prevention. Reforms and new approaches are required in that area that are at least as extensive as those that are now taking place in the area of criminal justice policy.
I welcome that several authorities, such as Ivo and Brå, which have been raised here, have pointed out the problem and that we will soon – within some month, if I have understood the matter correctly – have a proper knowledge base from another authority regarding precisely this group, with recommendations that hopefully can guide us and ensure that our efforts to protect these children in the future can become much better than until now.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.