The number of children and young people involved in serious crimes linked to organized crime is significantly higher than expected.
According to the National Board of Health and Welfare, 264 children and young people were prosecuted or tried for serious violent crimes, such as murder or arson, linked to gang crime between 2020 and 2024. One in ten were under 15.
The estimate before the survey was 150-200 children.
The National Board of Health and Welfare will now examine all 264 children to understand why some are drawn into organized crime.
We will look at what risk factors, background factors and upbringing conditions are important to map, and what contact they have had with various actors, to see where society has failed these children, says department head Johanna Kumlin.
