The children who are 3, 4, and 5 years old today – when they are 13, 14, and 15, they should not be gang criminals. We will stop and break the recruitment, says Minister for Social Affairs Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (The Moderate Party).
Already today, municipalities have a general crime prevention responsibility according to law. This is now complemented by an explicit crime prevention responsibility aimed at preventing the recruitment of children and young people into criminality and preventing other crimes. At the same time, according to Waltersson, secrecy barriers are being removed to facilitate cooperation between authorities.
Seeking out criminals
One example could be that the police notice a boy who is moving in gang criminal environments and report this to the social services. Then, according to Waltersson, the social services will have an obligation to actively seek out the boy and his family and offer necessary interventions. There is no such requirement today.
The work of preventing and combating crime will have a more prominent role, and our purpose with this is that social services will be able to contribute with even greater force and more effectively in the crime prevention work going forward, says Christian Carlsson (The Christian Democrats).
The obligation for social services to prevent criminality also includes adults. The law is simultaneously a framework law and does not specify exactly which measures municipalities should take.
But The Liberals' Gulan Avci mentions, for example, manual-based programs to counteract norm-breaking behavior, cooperation with social intervention groups, parental support, and contact persons.
She emphasizes that the law does not limit the crime prevention responsibility that lies with other principals, such as the police.
Risk of violence?
The legislative proposal, which the government and the Sweden Democrats agree on, will now be sent to the Council on Legislation. After that, it will be incorporated into the new Social Services Act, which is intended to come into force next summer.
Is there a risk of more threats and violence against social services employees?
This is something the government takes very seriously and we have worked within several different areas, says Waltersson.
She mentions, among other things, stricter penalties for threats and violence against officials, increased protection for employees' personal data, and the possibility of having security guards at social services offices.
Maria Stensson/TT
Anja Haglund/TT
Facts: Gets extra money
TT
The social committee's preventive work against crime will be clarified in the new Social Services Act, which will come into force on July 1, 2025.
The government is also allocating SEK 1.7 billion over the next four years for municipalities to be able to reorganize and work more preventively against crime.
