The bill was sent to the Legislative Council earlier this fall and would see 15-17 year olds sentenced to prison instead of closed youth care. It is based on an inquiry that presented its report in August 2023.
The Legislative Council now notes in its statement that the bill deviates to a large extent from what the inquiry proposed, both in terms of substantive issues and the technical implementation of the law.
The Legal Council points out that after the bill was revised, the government only consulted with the Swedish Prison and Probation Service and that more people should have been given the opportunity to comment.
Is "deficient"
"Without such clarification, there are fewer opportunities to assess whether the proposals are designed so that the law can be assumed to meet the stated purposes and to assess what problems may arise in the application," wrote the Law Council, which believes that the preparation is "deficient."
The Legislative Council therefore opposes the government's proposal being used as the basis for legislation without further preparatory measures.
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) emphasizes in a written comment to TT that the reform of youth prisons is very important in order to strengthen society's protection against life-threatening violence.
Greater consideration
He also notes that the Legal Council, despite the criticism, does not object in substance to 15-17-year-olds serving sentences at the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
Strömmer also points out that the revision of the inquiry's proposal aims, among other things, to take greater account of the situation of convicted children and young people. For example, clarifying the right to maintain contact with their family and that young people must participate in education.
"We will now carefully review the Legal Council's statement, and return in the new year to discuss how we will address the comments," Strömmer writes.
The government also plans to propose lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years, but the Legislative Council has not included that proposal in its deliberations.
