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Gang violence has once again dominated the political debate. In Stockholm, the number of shootings has risen sharply compared to last year, and in Gothenburg, a rapidly escalating gang conflict ended up in the media spotlight when criminals set up illegal barricades in the city.
Maria Wallin is a crime prevention development leader in the city of Gothenburg and has worked for many years with gang issues. In 2007, she came into contact for the first time with the phenomenon of the recruitment of children into criminal groups.
– These groups are usually made up of a nucleus of people between 20 and 30 years old. Then we have what we call the tail: the majority of young people between 15 and 20 years old. They, in turn, have contacts in the larger group, which largely consists of younger children, Maria Wallin tells DN.
Last year He has interviewed 200 people working against crime in Gothenburg, something he also spoke about with SVT Väst.
It is mainly within the so-called territorial criminal networks, gangs that have control over a geographic area, where the recruitment of children occurs, says Maria Wallin. Recruitment is not always that active, but it may be that someone asks younger children for smaller services and, with the help of the children, the offenders maintain their control over the area.
Ulf Merlander, a former area manager for the local police in northeast Gothenburg who now works at the police center, shares Maria Wallin’s opinion on the situation.
– When these gangs are out and about, they can invite some neighborhood kids for pizza and drinks, and then ask for a favor. They tell the children to follow the trail and listen to them if the police arrive, and then these children see it as an unexciting task, says Ulf Merlander.
The smallest kids, They may be as young as eight years old, generally escaping the most serious forms of violence, but as they get older they can get more advanced assignments. And as they advance, the threat against them grows and it becomes increasingly difficult to get out of the group.
– When they are between 13 and 14 years old, they can start selling drugs or participate in organized robberies. When they start with that, they can be detained or forcibly recruited in a number of ways. It is important to note that they do not recruit anyone, they recognize and track those who are vulnerable and receptive, says Maria Wallin.
She is similar to what children are exposed to in a form of grooming, the criminal method used by adults who manipulate children for sexual purposes, but with one crucial difference.
– This system comes from within. Criminals are also neighbors, cousins, friend of a brother. Criminals are responsible for the threat and violence, but also for protection. This, coupled with gangster romance, identity building and a skewed ideal of masculinity means their behavior is normalized, says Maria Wallin.
According to Maria Wallin, they are mainly children from the areas controlled by the groups being recruited.
– They themselves may be punished or witness shots in the leg or strong blows. We have evidence that when parents try to get their children out of these structures, they are themselves exposed to threats of violence and often targeting a sibling as well, she says.
Authorities also see attempts to get children from more affluent areas to work for gangs.
– These groups want to expand, and in richer areas there are money and buyers. It happens that we receive reports of attempted theft or the like, but when we start to look more closely, we understand that it is a recruitment attempt.
Territorial criminal groups it depends on conscription to survive. To end their recruiting system, significant action is required at various levels of society, Police Chief Ulf Merlander and Maria Wallin agree.
– We need a better collaboration with social services and we have to be much more aggressive. Much more support needs to be provided sooner in these families, says Ulf Merlander.
Maria Wallin, in turn, affirms that the recruitment of children is not a new phenomenon. She describes it as the consequence of several decades of development where social institutions have not kept up.
– It is not the case that we do nothing. We have done a lot to stop this. But we must do everything at once, and therefore we need a clear strategy. These exist at the system level, at the socioeconomic level and at the individual level. We must work at all levels and then everyone from social services and police to housing companies and schools must work together, he says.
