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Since 2013, more than 250 people have been shot dead and more than 600 people have been shot in Sweden. Something that has put the issue of crime high on the political agenda. Suggestions for what to do to overcome problems vary: from early social interventions, gang banning to more police on the streets.
In his new book “Gangsterparadiset”, DN journalist Lasse Wierup has mapped 183 gang members and examined what society has done so far to stop them.
It turns out that several of them have long had contact with social services who should have tried most things to get them on the right track, including various forms of therapy, family homes, or compulsory care under the auspices of the Board. from the State Department, but crime has still accelerated.
– What I can see from my review is that it doesn’t work at all trying to persuade these guys to stop their crime. That’s what all these mild penalties basically mean – you can forget about them. You waste a lot of time and then gangs have time to grow, says Lasse Wierup.
The price of getting stuck It has proven low for many gang criminals. Between 2010 and 2013, a criminal leader was convicted in Rinkeby of more than twenty different crimes, including robbery, assault and aggravated robbery, but never received any punishment other than childcare under the auspices of social services.
“His victory over social services, the police and the courts showed how little society had to oppose if a young man had really decided to live on his own terms. In practice, getting stuck didn’t have to mean much. Was it weird? others to follow suit? it says in the book.
In this way, the critical mass of criminals in an area has continued to grow, which together with time are the two factors necessary for a criminal gang to emerge, according to Lasse Wierup.
– If 15-20 men are allowed to weld for 4-5 years and develop their criminal skills and accumulate violent capital, a problem arises that runs the risk of dragging down an entire residential area.
In the 2010s, the number of criminals The constellations of Sweden tripled to 350 today with almost 13,000 people connected. The large increase is due to territorial networks in vulnerable housing areas.
The book describes how gangs have established themselves in Märsta, Rinkeby and Biskopsgården, among other places, and have affected the local community very negatively with endangered merchants and rescuing citizens.
In 2017, for example, a leader of a network in southern Stockholm was arrested on suspicion of having shot a restaurateur in both legs. The restaurateur, however, did not want to point out the attacker to the police, but referred to “a society in partnership” with which he unfortunately has to relate.
At the same time it has the presence of the police in several cases it declined after the reorganization of authority, which has often meant longer emergency times and stricter priorities. The measures the authority has implemented have often been too broad and general, says Lasse Wierup, who believes the key is to implement specific efforts to reduce the appeal of individual gangs.
– The Swedish hope has been for decades that we get rid of all crimes. Of course, we can only forget that. But what it can do, however, is to surgically cut off opportunities for criminal gangs to create this position in residential areas.
Lasse Wierup narrowly searches for more effective legal tools, in addition to prison sentences.
– In Denmark, active gang members who do not want to withdraw from meeting their supposed siblings and staying in different places are prohibited. This is done with threats of revocation of the sentence, withdrawal of contributions, etc. I even think a lot of gang members would think it would be very cool if they could blame a ban, because there is so much internal pressure to defend the gang and defend the capital from violence.
Finally, why the title “Gangsterparadiset“?
– That’s where we are today. It is very easy to be a professional criminal in Sweden. The state has very little to oppose those who are most motivated in the world of criminal gangs, says Lasse Wierup.
Read more:
So Denmark managed to push back the gangs
