You want a girl with you, because it doesn't attract as much attention, says Josefin Jeffbeck, detective leader at the Malmö police.
We see an upward curve here, which is of course very sad.
In the South region, the number of girls under the age of 18 suspected of serious crimes has increased from 87 in 2023 to 102 in 2025. However, at the national level, a slight decline was seen in 2025.
Decline among boys
These are considerably lower figures than for boys under 18, but for them, the trend may have been broken both in the South region and nationally. Among boys, a decline is seen from 707 in 2023 to 609 in the South region in 2025.
The fact that criminal networks are targeting girls may be a response to the police focusing so hard on boys. That is at least one factor, Erik Åberg believes. He is operationally responsible for stopping the recruitment of children and young people in the South region.
We are developing our work, and criminal networks and recruiters are doing the same.
Blank records
That the girls have gone under the radar is very clear to Yemame Ali, who is a social worker in Malmö.
We have noticed that many of these girls suspected of serious crimes have not been seen by us before.
Boys in the danger zone often show more norm-breaking behavior and generate reports of concern, but it is not the same with girls.
It's a blank sheet of paper with us at social services – no records, nothing – it just comes in from the police straight away. So it's a challenge, says Yemame Ali.
Previously, social services' efforts for girls have often dealt with mental illness, school absences or what she calls "trouble".
There we have noticed that there has been a huge shift towards increasingly serious crimes.
"Green women"
The recruitment of girls that does not take place via social media often happens through relationships, such as a boyfriend, a male friend or a brother.
This has happened before, but the girls have usually played a role that the police call “green women,” says Josefin Jeffbeck. For example, they have rented storage units to store drugs or weapons, or helped with transportation.
But what we see today, in the last year at least and even a little further back, is that they have taken the step from enablers to perpetrators. The girls are closer to the crime itself.
Number of girls under 18 in the South region suspected of serious crimes:
2023: 87
2024: 89
2025: 102
2026 through May 20: 55
Number of girls under 18 years of age nationwide suspected of serious crimes:
2023: 584
2024: 668
2025: 587
2026 through May 20: 227
Number of boys under 18 years of age in the South region suspected of serious crimes:
2023: 707
2024: 691
2025: 609
2026 through May 20: 182
Number of boys under 18 years of age nationwide suspected of serious crimes:
2023: 3,886
2024: 3,844
2025: 3,464
2026 through May 20: 1,168
Examples of crimes included: publicly dangerous destruction, aggravated assault, violence against an official, attempted, preparation and conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated weapons offense, robbery, sabotage of emergency services operations, assault in a legal case.
Source: Police
