Young offenders

Richard Jomshof (SD)

Mr. Speaker! On December 28, 2022, two 15-year-old boys chose to carry out two shootings in Gubbängen. The first time, they fired at the facade of an apartment building with a pistol and an automatic weapon. Several of the shots went through a window, straight into an apartment. Later that evening, they fired with a live automatic weapon at an apartment door. 24 shots penetrated into the apartment, which also turned out to be the wrong apartment.

Last summer, a 14-year-old who had escaped from an HVB home was offered half a million kronor to kill four people in Jordbro. He went to Jordbro center on June 9 by taxi. But when he did not find the targets, he received orders to continue anyway. He then saw two people who, according to him, looked criminal and received the signal to shoot. And he did - he shot, but he missed.

A month later, early in the morning on July 10, the 14-year-old and an accomplice shot a 33-year-old man to death. The 14-year-old had previously been judged guilty of the fatal shooting, but because he is a minor, he could not be sentenced to any penalty. A few days ago, Södertörn District Court established that the 14-year-old intended to kill two of the six men in Jordbro, while at the same time being totally indifferent toward the other four, who also risked being killed. Despite the fact that he is thus guilty of six attempted murders, he could not be sentenced to any penalty because he is under 15 years old.

Last summer, two 14-year-olds were found dead in different locations in Stockholm. According to information, they had resold pistols belonging to the "Kurdiska rävens" network. When they could not get the weapons back, they were murdered in cold blood.

In September last year, a 13-year-old boy was found dead in a forest in Haninge. According to information, the 13-year-old could be linked to several criminal networks.

Mr. Speaker! The described events, which are only a few examples of many, are naturally deeply tragic - on several different levels.

Firstly, we are now forced to live in a Sweden where minors participate in gang crime, shootings, murders, and pure executions. We are forced to live in a Sweden where minors shoot to death but also are shot to death.

Secondly, it does not matter which crime we are talking about; a clear majority of the perpetrators have a background other than Swedish. The problem with the described crime is largely imported. This also applies when we talk about, for example, gang rapes and robbery with humiliation.

Young lawbreakers

This is a direct consequence of the naivety that has characterized Swedish politics for far too long. And I am not just talking about the totally failed immigration policy, which I usually bring up because I think it is important, but it is also obvious that there is a lack of understanding for the importance of community and the importance of shared values. It matters how we see each other and how we see the surrounding society. It is important to recognize the culture, the morality, and the values that form the basis of our society and for our very community - in Sweden.

It is also about not understanding that there actually are groups of people, cultures, and even religions that are not compatible with our social structure and the values upon which it is built. It is this failure and this lack of understanding that lies at the root of the segregation, the division, and the exclusion we now see in Sweden, which in turn lies at the root of all the terrible violence we see around us.

Therefore, we must combat the values that prevail in many of these gangs, groups, and suburbs. We must do this while simultaneously deporting grossly criminal individuals to a significantly greater extent than we have done until now. This also applies to those people who do not want to be a part of our society and who do not want to contribute to our common good. I want to assert that it is crucial for our goal to reverse the development. If we do not do this, we will not succeed. That, if anything, is to work preventatively.

Thirdly, we must tackle the crime that can be linked to certain gangs. We must remember that it looks the way it does despite all the preventive work that previous governments have put into the area and despite all the money that has been pumped into suburbs, schools, and various integration projects. We will, of course, continue to work preventively; I have no other opinion on that. But it is clear that something more was needed, because if one believes that merely more of the same thing will solve the problems, one has not understood anything at all.

Mr. Speaker! In the Tidö Agreement, we specifically point to youth crime, and we have several proposals in that area. I want to emphasize the following above all else today: I want to assert that it is important and crucial that we lower the age of criminal responsibility. We shall under no circumstances accept an order where, for example, 14-year-olds are used for contract killings just because they are not of legal age. If one is old enough to murder another human being, for example, one is old enough to take their punishment. It is tragic. But that is how reality looks, and that is the reality we must live in.

For it to function optimally, it is required that the responsibility for the most heavily criminalized youths be moved from the municipalities to the Prison and Probation Service, but also that we establish special youth prisons for criminals. Parallel to the establishment of youth prisons, the special youth homes that Sis is responsible for today shall be closed, which was announced at the beginning of February. It is a good decision, not least because the Sis homes have failed in their mission to an all too great extent. They have been characterized by everything from sexual abuse and escapes to gross violence and gang recruitment.

Something more is needed, and it is primarily about distinguishing between the youths who are in need of special help and who are not seriously criminal and those youths who are seriously criminal. It is also about creating a professional organization where youths with, for example, drug problems and mental illness – many times it is both – receive help from staff with the right competence.

Mr. Speaker! I would like to briefly mention in conclusion some of the laws that entered into force on July 1 last year and which concern precisely young offenders.

More drug tests can now be carried out on those under 15 years of age. More investigations can be carried out when someone under 15 is suspected of a crime. A criminal investigation can also be initiated in more cases. This is important. Even though a minor cannot be sentenced to any punishment, it is of course good if the court examines whether the minor is guilty of a serious crime or not. It is also possible for a prosecutor to decide on youth service through a summary order. These are some of the things that were presented on July 1 last year. There are many good proposals that could be raised here today, not least the municipal responsibility for crime prevention work. Much of what has already been decided is good, and much that is in progress is good.

The purpose of the new laws and those that will arrive shortly is that society should intervene early and clearly mark when a minor commits a serious crime, not least in order to at least attempt to prevent continued criminality.

Overall, youth crime is a priority area for the Tidö parties, and we will do everything in our power to try to address the problem. It will not be easy, but we must try, because what is happening around us now is appalling.

With that said, I would like to vote in favor of the committee's proposal in the report.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the opportunity to come to the chamber and debate important issues on how we shall combat youth crime and build our society together!

I cannot help but take as a starting point what the previous speaker points out somewhere. Many of us are concerned about the development we have seen in recent years, where more and more young people are committing increasingly more serious crimes.

We are concerned about the society that has emerged, not only in recent years with a bourgeois government that exacerbates the class society but also over the last 20-30 years during which we have seen a segregation without equal spread across Sweden, a segregation that causes some young people to grow up in environments where resources are lacking, both at home and where society has withdrawn, where schools have been privatized, where welfare institutions no longer exist, where the labor market is weaker and where society's support for livelihood is greater than in other parts of our society where different conditions exist.

We see a society that has been pulled apart, Mr. Speaker, which is the basis for the development we see in our country. If we want to achieve an improvement, we must, I think at least, build up our society and get a stronger society where all children get opportunities.

This debate began already in the first speech, just as it has been for many years, dealing with increased penalties, lowered criminal responsibility age, youth prisons and tougher measures against criminals. I believe, however, that we must also be able and manage to think about that it is children it is about - children and young people.

I refuse to give up faith in and hope for the children. I do not believe that one is born a criminal. I do not believe that it matters where one is born or from which parents. I believe that those who end up in these environments need a strong society that gives all children, regardless of background, a secure upbringing.

With that said, we still see a development in Sweden that we must reverse. Therefore, during its time, the Social Democratic government tightened eighty punishments and expanded resources to address the situation we have. We also see the effects of that. In an earlier debate today, we discussed the correctional services, and we see that prisons and detention centers are becoming full. Police and prosecutors have found new ways to work and be able to prosecute more. The tightening of punishments is having an effect.

It is worth mentioning in connection with this report that we Social Democrats have chosen to focus, for example, on the fact that the exploitation of children and young people in serious crime shall be illegal. We can imagine doing more in that area. However, we oppose the one-sidedness prevailing in the Government Offices and the SD government, where it is only about – as we heard initially – lowered criminal responsibility age and more opportunities to arrest children and young people. It must be about the police having the right tools, but we must also build our society together. We must ensure that the recruitment base for the gangs is minimized. We shall cut off the supply to the gangs.

Is there anything at all that I note when I review the police's situation reports from this spring, it is that there are now, according to the police, almost 5,000 children and young people in and around our gangs, the gangs that have instilled fear in residential areas all over the country. Many of them are not the enablers but the perpetrators, i.e., those who run errands for the gang leaders. Let us ensure that no more of these children continue to see this as a possible summer job. Let us break the recruitment.

Therefore, it becomes somewhat remarkable when one stands in a speaker's chair, especially in budget times, and sees what two budgets and one spring amendment budget have entailed when it comes to building our society. We established a new principle in Swedish politics that we had hoped would be applicable when it comes to combating crime, namely that every krona for the police must also be met with a krona for crime prevention. We live in a reality where we are quite far from that, Mr. Speaker.

In the supplementary budget just one week ago, there were almost no resources to break the recruitment to the gangs. It was a lack of policy to respond to the great questions of our time and what this motion is about: to ensure that we do not have any young lawbreakers. How is that? If it is such an important issue for the SD government that we should have fewer young lawbreakers, why is it not ensured that the school problems are solved? Why is the welfare underfunded, even though we have now for two years seen how different parts of the welfare are going to their knees? There is a shortage of youth leaders, there is a shortage of school staff, and the social services are having a harder time. I just wonder why these priorities have been made.

We also see that the cost-of-living crisis has caused ten years of real wage increases to be eaten up for ordinary people. We see alarm reports from the voluntary sector that fewer and fewer children in particularly vulnerable areas have the opportunity to participate in leisure activities. We also see that the country's municipalities are cutting back on leisure and cultural activities for children. Then I think: If we cannot strengthen the positive communities now, we are leaving children and young people in particularly vulnerable areas to negative communities, and thereby increasing the recruitment base for the gangs.

This is an inconsistency. It is not a policy that holds together. It is required that we reach a consensus on the need to break the recruitment to the gangs and to maintain a high pace when it comes to reforms to give society the opportunities to prosecute those who are already in the gangs and then help them out of them.

We proposed just a week ago an investment of 700 million kronor to make it possible to tag 1,500 of them who are in gang environments with ankle monitors and special adult support to ensure that they do not commit more crimes. We also want positive upbringing environments to be built for all children and young people and we oppose the forced-treatment thoughts that exist in the Government Offices and in the SD government. It could give social services, school, police and leisure activities greater, more powerful and better opportunities to break the recruitment to the gangs. We must fight the negative communities and build positive communities.

In our reservation 4, which I wish to move for approval of, we also raise the need to be able to proceed with looking at the secrecy legislation so that school, social services, and the police can be able to address parts of what we have talked about here today in a simpler and better way. We hope that we will see reforms in that area. We know that work is ongoing, but we think that the pace of reform should be increased here.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker: If we are to succeed in combating recruitment and keeping young people away from gangs and crime, we must build a strong society where all children in all parts of society have the opportunity to succeed. It should not be about where you grew up or who you were born to. We must have a strong society where all children, regardless of background, can realize their dreams and their ideas.

(Applause)

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Torsten Elofsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Mattias Vepsä spoke a lot about building society together. I will come, which perhaps is known from a city called Malmö, where the Social Democrats have ruled and managed largely uninterrupted for a hundred years, and which now has very large problems. Now the Social Democrats are talking about building society together, and I have also seen something about mixing the population.

When one has tried this experiment in Malmö - bussing school students and mixing the population, as it is so beautifully called - it has shown that those who take over these areas are often those who already have problems. Those who previously lived in a safe world face major problems with insecurity when one mixes the population in this way.

When Mattias Vepsä talks about building society together, is it about us mixing the population?

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Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! Everyone who lives in our country should be able to feel closeness and community with one another. It requires that one feels that they can move freely and safely in all parts of our cities. For me, it is a matter of course.

It means that we must pursue a housing policy that ensures we build away barriers. We must ensure that we do not have particularly privileged parts of our cities, which are almost gated communities where one has special opportunities in the form of better schools and a better labor market, while we have other parts of society where we allow decay to continue, the facades of the houses are neglected, the parks are not pleasant to move in, and the schools do not offer the absolute highest quality of education.

I do not know if Member of Parliament Torsten Elofsson is satisfied that we have a class society where it depends on where you live whether you have the right to put your children in a good school or whether the childcare in preschools should have trained staff. Now we also see the effect of bourgeois politics and that large parts of our welfare are on its knees, and in these parts of our society, one cannot afford to strengthen the quality.

I suppose I have to ask a question back to Torsten Elofsson. Are you satisfied with the priorities that the government has made, which have led to ever-increasing pressure on the welfare system?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Torsten Elofsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I understand that Mattias Vepsä wants to shift the focus to that it is the current government that is the problem.

I return, however, to the Social Democratic ideal society in Malmö, where you have ruled for a hundred years. There, we have three particularly vulnerable areas. In Sweden, we now have 60 vulnerable areas. This has occurred because one has failed totally with both the migration policy and the integration policy. We have received parallel societies where people live and actually do not want to be integrated but rather rule their own little world. In that case, it is very difficult to integrate.

I understand that there is a legitimate purpose in what Mattias Vepsä says. But the problem is that reality does not look quite in the way that Mattias Vepsä wishes. That is unfortunately the bitter fact.

I think we must examine ourselves. There should not be any kind of blame game about who bears the responsibility. I am simply stating that the path that the Socialdemokrater want to take, and which has been tried in Malmö, has not worked. Those who suffer most from this and who are most insecure are those who have previously lived in safe areas that suddenly become insecure because one tries to mix in a way that does not work particularly well. Then the strong ones, those who have the capital of violence, take over and create this insecurity.

I am just wondering what the Social Democrats' idea and vision is when it comes to mixing and building a strong society. What is it that you want to achieve, and how is it to be achieved?

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Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! Now Member Torsten Elofsson is pretending as if it were the case that all municipalities in our country are taking responsibility. That is not true.

During the previous parliamentary term, when we had a large refugee reception in the aftermath of the reception in 2015-2016, we ensured that the legislation was changed so that all municipalities would take a shared responsibility for the refugee reception. It is an issue that we have pushed for over a long period.

We have also wanted to review the EBO legislation so that it should be easier for the municipalities to succeed in breaking segregation, increasing integration, and ensuring that people can enter our society. We have wanted to tackle school segregation, choke off the tap from welfare activities, and ensure that there is order and control in our welfare so that every krona can be used in an effective and correct way. In that way, we can ensure that all people can receive welfare of good quality.

It is politics in area after area that the right wing here in the chamber has voted against. It is enough to look around in the city and region where I live. We also have vulnerable areas in our city, and we have municipalities, for example Botkyrka and Södertälje, which have taken a larger share of the refugees and immigrants who have come to Sweden. They have long said that it is not a problem to receive people from other countries, but it is a problem when some municipalities do it but others do not. Then we get tax havens and increased inequality.

I hope that Torsten Elofsson chooses to see the big picture. Then I believe we can succeed in building our society together. Increase housing production! Ensure that we remove the profit interest in our schools and that the strong society can exist in both Vellinge as well as Malmö and Lidingö and all parts of the Stockholm region.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Charlotte Nordström (M)

Mr. Speaker! Children should be allowed to be children. Every child has the right to a life without crime and violence. That must be our common goal.

The reality is unacceptable. The newspapers are filled with headlines about gang violence that is creeping further down into the ages. Children are investigated for involvement in murder plots, bombings, and shootings. It is becoming increasingly common that those who are convicted of murder and attempted murder in the Swedish gang conflicts are children.

It turns out that many of those suspected of involvement in serious gang violence have previously been subject to involuntary commitment. Many of them have a history of extensive school absence, violent conflicts, drug use, and other crimes. Strikingly often, they are known to the school or social services in their home locations without the authorities having been able to cooperate.

If we are to succeed in protecting our children and young people, we must work in new ways. Successful crime prevention work must be based on close cooperation between the police and the municipalities. This applies particularly in activities such as preschool, school, and social services. It is about building a functioning social safety net around every child, even in cases where there is no support from the own family.

The "Backa barnet" method, which the municipalities in, for example, Lidingö, Ystad and Degerfors work with, involves early detection of children who risk being drawn into crime or other social problems. It is probably an effective and good model to work with. They have, however, encountered obstacles in the work because different authorities cannot or do not dare to share information. That is a problem.

Secrecy is a threat to our children and youth when it comes to our will to support and prevent. We are now working so that social services, schools, and the police can cooperate in the fight against the gangs without being hindered by secrecy.

Mr. Speaker! In the report Young Lawbreakers, we have a number of motions to deal with on issues that are already being addressed by ongoing work in investigations or by the fact that they are being prepared.

The investigation into improved opportunities to exchange information with law enforcement authorities recently submitted its report Increased information flow to law enforcement - A new main rule for the government. The investigation's proposals are now being prepared within the Government Offices. The Government has announced that a bill should be submitted as early as June with proposals on confidentiality-breaking provisions and coordinated efforts.

Regarding the proposals for a special task force to prevent children and young people from being involved in gang crime, the Safety Commission's report Ways to a Safer Society has been submitted for consultation. The government is also preparing the proposals there.

The government also presented a national strategy in March to strengthen crime prevention work with a focus on social crime prevention measures. The aim is, among other things, to prevent children and young people from becoming involved in criminal networks and other crime. To counter crime and increase safety, investments in the justice system and criminal justice measures need to be combined with effective and proactive crime prevention work.

Around all our children and young people, there are factors that protect them from the risk of ending up in crime, substance abuse, and other difficulties. Some should be quite obvious. It is about growing up in a loving family with clear rules and adults who provide affirmation.

Other protective factors are to feel at ease in one's school, feel a sense of belonging, and be noticed for positive actions. By increasing the number of protective factors around children, we create the conditions for good health and a minimal risk of going astray later in life.

In my previous role, I was the chairman of the municipal executive board in Skara. We worked hard with these issues and had a strong focus on early, preventive measures so that children and young people would get the best possible start in life. Preventive work was our mantra, as was moving from words to action. Preventive work reduces the risk of children and young people suffering harm and shall permeate all activities. Children and young people shall receive support in their group in preschool or school.

If any child or any youth is harmed, they must be given help quickly. One must act. It requires a gathering of forces for cooperation and shared responsibility regarding the individual child and youth. We must help each other to increase cooperation and to create a shared vision and a common basis in the work with interventions for children and young people who are harmed. It is quite simply about, Mr. Speaker, that more people must do more and do it better. The whole society must work together in a focused manner to prevent crime. It concerns both public actors as well as companies and individual individuals, because enough is enough now. Safety is our time's great freedom issue.

Mr. Speaker! The motions of the committee are being handled and the work is in full swing. I look forward to when the proposals are addressed here in the chamber. Therefore, I move for approval of the committee's proposal that the Riksdag rejects all motion requests concerning young offenders.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! First, I would like to thank the member for a fine speech. I can say that I agree with almost everything that Charlotte Nordström said from the rostrum. I just want to ask a short question, because many of us last week when the budget was presented felt that it was strange that more resources were not allocated to welfare and the preventive activities, i.e., school, social services, and healthcare.

SKR has said that they need almost 30 billion, and they were already underfunded last autumn. If I remember correctly, it was now about 300 million for the school. In other debates I have had here with ministers from the government, it has been promised that money would come.

Which parts of the government's budget does Charlotte Nordström consider to be preventive? Will the Moderates and the government parties ensure that they support the country's municipalities moving forward in the welfare crisis we find ourselves in?

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Charlotte Nordström (M)

Mr. Speaker! I would first like to thank the member for the kind words.

I believe that our entire budget is crime-preventing with the aim of ensuring that order and stability are established in Sweden's economy in the harsh world we live in and to increase growth so that we get more funds for the families. That one can live on one's salary is also important for the families. That in itself is a basis for the crime-preventing work.

I also know, as former chairman of the municipal executive board where I led Skara municipality during the worst recession, that one must invest in early interventions. We looked at the money we had. It is about methods of work, which I tried to describe.

I know that it is possible to move from words to action, and therefore I am not concerned on that point. If we have common goals and can help each other through cooperation, we can solve this.

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Mattias Vepsä (S)

Mr. Speaker! I continue with the government's budget. A large item, when it comes to what I think in these times would be the most important, concerns helping children and young people. It is probably primarily about the children who have a single mother or father, who perhaps have a job, but where the money really does not suffice. The cost crisis we find ourselves in makes food expensive and the outgrown football boots expensive to replace when one calculates the proportion of the wage one has. One turns and twists every single krona.

The leisure card (fritidskortet) has been a big thing that the government has promised but which seems to be delayed. My question to the member is whether action will be taken here and now. Just for the leisure card, there are 800 million lying in a bank account or at least in a cost center in the government's budget. Does the government and Charlotte Nordström see any possibility of actually doing something for the children and young people who are having it the toughest right now? I believe it is about support here and now and not just about harder prioritizations, because I have an impression that many are already making hard prioritizations - both in welfare and in private finances. The alarm reports I received last week, for example from Pep, and previously from Majblomman, Hyresgästföreningen, Röda Korset, and Rädda Barnen, show that the situation is acute for many children.

Does Charlotte Nordström see a need to speed up measures to facilitate things for those who are having it the toughest here and now?

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Charlotte Nordström (M)

Mr. Speaker! With all due respect – I do not have detailed knowledge of where that matter stands right now. I do know, however, that the most important thing for an affected family is that the municipality, which has a responsibility, does not raise the tax. But unfortunately, there are very many Social Democratic municipalities that have raised the tax, and it hits the single mother quite hard, if one is to speak about the economic part.

I also know that there are very many municipalities that support the children and families for whom it is extra hard and tough. It is about joining forces, moving forward and helping those families with children so that even the young ones can have a good summer vacation, for example.

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Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)

Mr. Speaker! Today we see how ever younger people are being recruited into criminal gangs and how the deadly violence is claiming more victims. We must absolutely put an end to the violence. Everything else is completely unacceptable.

To truly reduce serious crime and strengthen people's safety in vulnerable areas, as well as to stop the new recruitment of young people into gangs, something other than longer and harsher sentences, visitation zones, and wiretapping without suspicion of a crime is required. That policy only leads to overcrowded detention centers and prisons while the correctional services are brought to its knees. What is required is both short-term and long-term work, a common political will to reduce the economic gaps in society, and a substantial investment in building resilient, strong communities with a good welfare.

The government must immediately take a holistic approach to the problem, based on research and proven experience. Unfortunately, the right-wing parties often let emotions, opinions, and pure populism form the basis for crime policy measures. Longer sentences, the abolition of parole and of the so-called "bulk discount" for multiple crimes, custodial sentences, lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and special youth prisons will not lead to reduced crime. The measures risk, on the contrary, becoming counterproductive. What is required instead is long-term crime prevention work to stop the new recruitment to the gangs, primarily among young people.

Stopping the recruitment of children and young people into crime is completely central to reducing shootings and other serious crime. It is therefore necessary to invest in crime-preventive measures and to provide, among other things, social services and schools with sufficient resources for this work. However, there is no quick solution to stop the recruitment into crime. A number of different measures are needed in both the short and long term. It is primarily investments in schools, social services, and children's and youth's leisure activities that are needed.

If school, leisure activities, and society in general function well, the opportunities to recruit children and young people into crime decrease. A youth who receives the support they need to succeed in school is significantly harder to recruit. A youth who has a meaningful leisure time and sees clear alternatives to crime becomes harder to recruit into the gangs.

Good cooperation is required between different authorities and local actors. Here, the police naturally have an important role. We must build trust between the police and members of society and not increase mistrust through incorrect initiatives such as stop-and-search zones.

The government often refers to Denmark when it comes to crime fighting, but one forgets to look at what has actually had an effect in Denmark. It is not the extended prison sentences that have had the greatest effect in our neighboring country. It is becoming increasingly clear and obvious that it is instead the preventive measures that have had the greatest effect in Denmark. Local representatives, in cooperation with the police and authorities, have built up trust among children and young people. This shows a different path.

But instead of investing in crime prevention measures, the right-wing government chooses the repressive path with harsher penalties and more secret coercive measures, despite a lack of evidence that these measures are effective in reducing crime. The right-wing government has, on the contrary, cut funding to, among other things, social services and school. This is deeply reprehensible, and it is an irresponsible policy that Vänsterpartiet completely distances itself from.

Stopping the recruitment into crime is not a quick fix, however. The dismantling of the common welfare society has been ongoing for a long time, and researchers warned early on that the situation that now prevails would arise.

A number of different measures are needed in both the short and long term. There are examples of good exit programs and projects aimed at encouraging young people to leave the criminal path, for example Sluta skjut, but the most important thing is to ensure that children and young people never end up in crime. The preventive work must therefore be initiated early. As part of this work, I believe that the government should task the Crime Victim Authority and the Crime Prevention Council with developing an information campaign aimed at stopping the new recruitment of children and young people into crime.

The project Rätt kurva is a collaboration between social services, the police, and other actors that primarily focuses on children at younger ages to prevent them from being recruited into organized crime. The project is currently under development in Södertälje, Linköping, and parts of Gothenburg. The concept consists of social services selecting children between the ages of eight and twelve who have come to their attention. They visit the family together with the police to investigate possible interventions for the child and its family.

Rätt kurva is an example of a project that should be spread throughout the country in order to reduce the recruitment of new individuals into crime. I believe that similar local projects should be mapped and evaluated in order to spread good experiences. The Government should therefore task the Swedish Crime Prevention Council (Brå) with spreading the Rätt kurva project to all municipalities that have a need to reduce the recruitment of children and young people into crime. Furthermore, the Government should task Brå with mapping and evaluating local projects against recruitment into crime in order to spread good examples.

I naturally stand behind all our reservations, but I move for approval only to reservation 8.

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Torsten Elofsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violent crime in our country. Sweden has gone from being a safe and secure country to a country with shootings and explosions that are unparalleled in Europe.

We have also witnessed that the perpetrators have become increasingly younger. Young people, mostly boys but also girls, report voluntarily or are recruited to act as executioners and perpetrators with weapons in hand in exchange for compensation in the hope of a career in the criminal gangs and organized crime.

The police testify that young people more or less stand in line to commit murders and bombings. Often, other criminals are the targets, but innocent people fall victim in various ways. Sometimes it is enough that one happens to be a relative of a criminal. Sometimes the perpetrators simply get the person wrong and execute someone in cold blood.

Beside the shootings, explosive charges are used to intimidate or take revenge. Even here, people have been killed or injured. The destruction has also caused great economic damage to completely innocent people and, of course, created great insecurity and fear in the affected residential areas.

Mr. Speaker! Regardless of the perpetrators' age, they have shown through their actions that they are dangerous and pose a danger to everyone. Therefore, their freedom of movement must be restricted, even in cases where the perpetrator is under 15 years old and cannot be prosecuted and sentenced. We cannot have dangerous and armed young people roaming free on our streets.

In conversations I have had with staff at Sis youth home, it has been testified that many of the young offenders and gang criminals lack a sense of consequence. Many times, this is linked to drug abuse and mental disorders in the form of ADHD or similar. To reduce the risk of recidivism, treatment paired with education over a long period is required, so long-term deprivation of liberty can, in those cases, actually be beneficial.

We can also observe that the Sis-homes are not adapted to today's reality with young people who commit serious violent crimes and have strong connections to gang criminals. For that reason, the possibility of establishing special youth prisons under the responsibility of the Prison and Probation Service is now being investigated. It is intended that this shall be in place by July 1, 2026.

There is also, in my opinion, a need to establish special youth courts that adjudicate crimes committed by young offenders.

Mr. Speaker! The Christian Democrats and the government are currently implementing the Tidö Agreement's reform agenda, following the change of government 18 months ago, which was an expression of change. There are no Alexander hits against crime and the new recruitment of children and young people, but it is about a patient work where we step by step change the course and move forward the positions.

That crime prevention work is particularly important in relation to young offenders. There are few things that are as important as stopping young people from being dragged down into the darkness that criminal life entails. Only then can we prevent new crimes.

The Christian Democrats' and the government's preventive measures in this area are therefore many. Our crime prevention work involves, among other things, an expanded social service that is given more tools with a new Social Services Act. It is also about removing confidentiality barriers between authorities so that they can work more coordinately and with a united voice. We also work for a developed cooperation between social services, school, police, and leisure.

Mr. Speaker! The Government has established a new cooperation structure called Bob - children and young people in organized crime - to strengthen the work against children and young people ending up in serious crime. The establishment of special youth crime committees intended to prevent young people from being recruited into gang crime is also being investigated. This part actually focuses more on children living with parents who abuse substances, which means that they themselves risk ending up in crime.

Connected to this, we are betting on family centers that can provide support to parents who have children in the risk zone. One thing, however, is paramount above all this: It is about the family and about values, which are the primary force when it comes to being able to prevent crime and strengthen the sense of right and wrong. Unfortunately, this perspective has been forgotten in Swedish politics for many years, but if there is something that we Christian Democrats have always emphasized, it is this. We are the family's voice in the government and a voice to put the family in focus and strengthen its role.

Safe families are the primary defense against the values of the street. This requires a supportive family policy and a clear parental responsibility. The Christian Democrats are the guarantor that this perspective is included in the government's crime prevention work.

The importance of the family cannot be overemphasized. Last spring, the Crime Prevention Council released a report on socioeconomic background and the risk of committing crimes. The conclusions in that report emphasize what we Christian Democrats have always pointed out, namely the importance of the family rather than socioeconomics.

Brå writes that crime is ultimately due to values and whether the person can justify the act to themselves and their surroundings. The family and a strong attachment to the parents then becomes a completely decisive safety-creating measure for good norms and values that can be transferred over time and between generations.

In conclusion, it is a patient task that is required, but we are doing things that will have a real effect. With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Ulrika Liljeberg (C)

Mr. Speaker! We have today a situation in Sweden where it happens that children who have been recruited by children of serious organized crime on the orders of another child murder another child. It is grotesque on so many levels, and it is a great failure for us as a country. But whatever we call it, it is still children we are dealing with.

I shall read a quote: "The network environments are replenished through insocialization rather than intentional recruitment, and it occurs at increasingly younger ages. These children and young people are often already known in municipal activities such as schools and social services, sometimes also by the police or other local actors, but without it having generated a collective action to break the negative trend."

This can be read in the report Bob - children and young people in organized crime, which others here have also mentioned. There were proposals for a new cooperation structure from September 2023. The report makes it clear that competence, resources, but also a clear mandate and proper legal support were needed. This needs to be implemented promptly, and we stand behind it.

When one talks about children and young people, one would prefer to talk about the preventive work. But as was said, it is not possible to turn a blind eye or be naive regarding the fact that even this group commits crimes, and even serious crimes. We therefore stand behind the government's work to transfer the responsibility for certain young convicted persons from Sis to Kriminalvården. We have also stood behind the expanded possibility for the disclosure of evidence for children aged 12-14 years, which we passed here in the chamber last summer.

The Prison and Probation Service has a mandate to further develop its work regarding the prevention of recidivism. They say that whether it concerns short or long prison sentences, the goal shall be that the sentence marks the end of the convict's path into crime. I think that is well formulated. It should, of course, apply to all sanctions or care interventions towards young people that we carry out, whether they are performed by the Prison and Probation Service, Sis, municipalities, or others.

In order to be able to get the complete picture of the issues facing young people that we have spoken about, better cooperation is needed between school health services, BUP, health and medical care, and social services. This has been pointed out for a long time, and the need has not diminished, on the contrary. Today, many parents experience that their children fall between the cracks and have to wait in a queue to receive first-line support. We need a strong welfare even in an economic crisis.

At the transition between different stages, between preschool and school or from primary school to upper secondary school, we often hear that children and parents have to start over from the beginning to receive the right support. One root cause of this is that the responsibility for the well-being and development of children and young people is spread across many different activities. Fragmented and outdated secrecy legislation makes it difficult and sometimes impossible for different activities to share the information needed to ensure the child's best interests, which also becomes the best interests of society.

Secrecy has been reviewed here to facilitate this. Proposals aimed at this were submitted by the Inquiry on improved opportunities to exchange information with law enforcement authorities. It is commendable that the government has announced that the bill will be submitted before the summer with a proposal for an increased flow of information to law enforcement.

But the secrecy that does not primarily concern crime fighting, but concerns that children and families should be able to be provided with good living conditions in general - and which concerns care, school and the social - also needs to be improved and clarified in its content and in that way be used correctly throughout the country. All activities concerning young people cannot have a focus on crime fighting. We must ensure that all children receive good living conditions generally. I would like to move for approval of reservation 5 under point 4 regarding eased secrecy rules.

I also want to highlight the issue of support for interventions. The Government has reduced the state grant that finances interventions aimed at violence in young people's relationships. This means that, for example, the national support line ungarelationer.se is threatened.

Centerpartiet considers it a priority to continue supporting young people who live in, or risk falling into, destructive and violent relationships. Centerpartiet will therefore, in its spring budget amendment, unlike the government this year, allocate 10 million kronor to this important activity. I want to emphasize that it is good that the government provides support to Bris, but it is not enough. More people need support.

We also see that defector work is underfunded and needs to be strengthened and that more resources need to be added to both the police and other actors. There were state funds for this, but they ran out in 2023. And the government has not provided any major budget for 2024. Centerpartiet wants to see a doubling of the police's budget for defector work with an additional 75 million kronor.

In addition, a national exit program is needed for both adults and children when the gangs' recruitment attempts or socialization reach further and further down in age. Children and young people have specific needs. But they also have rights and obligations that differ from those of adults. This means that methods developed for adult exiters are not necessarily as effective and applicable to minors. There is also a lack of sufficient knowledge on this.

Young lawbreakers

This can be addressed by a national program with proven methods and better resources. Projects and passionate individuals are often highlighted, and I want to give them the highest praise for what they do. But it is not enough. We need national evidence-based guidelines that we have in other areas. They must exist in the line work with a high standard for everyone. Sweden can do better than what we are doing now.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 24 April.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)