Sweden moves to lower prison age to 13 for violent offenders Amid surge in gang violence

The Swedish government has moved forward with a controversial proposal that would allow children as young as 13 to be sentenced to prison for the most serious violent crimes, marking a significant shift in the country’s criminal justice policy.

The official proposal was submitted this week and seeks to temporarily lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13 for grave offences, including murder, attempted murder, aggravated rape, aggravated arson, bombings, serious acts of public destruction and weapons-related crimes, according to Swedish media reports.

Under the draft legislation, the change would take effect in July 2026 and remain in force for an initial five-year period, expiring in 2031 unless parliament votes to extend or make it permanent.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer described the proposal as a response to an “urgent situation,” arguing that criminal networks are increasingly exploiting very young children who are currently below the age of criminal responsibility and therefore cannot be prosecuted.

The government has framed the rise in extreme youth criminality as a national emergency. Henrik Vinge, chairman of Sweden’s Justice Committee, said: “When 13 and 14-year-olds are running around with automatic weapons, society must respond with full force. The aim is both to protect the public and to give these children a chance to leave crime behind before it is too late.”

Official statistics underscore the scale of the problem. In 2025 alone, 52 children under the age of 15 were involved in murder or attempted murder cases that reached court. Police and prosecutors have repeatedly warned that criminal gangs deliberately recruit minors through encrypted messaging apps because they face social services interventions rather than prison sentences.

Sweden, with a population of 10.6 million, records one of Europe's highest rates of deadly gun violence with the majority of cases being gang-related, with attacks occurring almost daily. Hand grenade attacks, which are fuelled further by the surplus munitions smuggled from the Balkans after the 1990s Yugoslav wars, have become a grim hallmark of the gang conflicts. Experts say grenade attacks are a cheap way to intimidate rivals without necessarily killing someone.

Under the proposed framework, the government plans to establish dedicated youth units within the prison system. These facilities would be separate from adult prisons, with younger teenagers kept apart from older inmates. Sentences for the youngest offenders would be relatively short: a 13-year-old convicted of murder could face one to two years in a youth prison, while a 14-year-old could receive three to four years. Courts would retain discretion to impose non-custodial measures, such as intensified social supervision, where appropriate.

The proposal has sparked strong opposition from multiple institutions and advocacy groups. The Swedish Prison and Probation Service, the Police Authority, the Prosecution Authority and several child-rights organisations have warned that lowering the age of imprisonment could entrench young people in criminal environments rather than rehabilitate them.

Critics also argue there is little evidence that reducing the age of criminal responsibility deters serious crime and caution that the policy could have unintended consequences, including pushing gangs to recruit even younger children to carry out violent acts.

By Nazrin Sadigova