Is criminality a risk to Sweden's welfare state?

Rising crime rates in Sweden are also a growing burden on the country's healthcare system. The personal report of a Göteborgs-Posten columnist who had to wait for hours with her child for treatment at an A&E department because doctors had been called away to deal with the victims of three shoot-outs has triggered a debate in the opinion sections about how serious the situation really is.

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Sydsvenskan (SE) /

First-world problems

Let's not make a mountain of a molehill Sydsvenskan columnist Moa Berglöf recommends:

“Every time the demands of the middle-classes for personal 24-hour service are not fulfilled, editorials start moaning about it. Is this really acceptable? It's hard to interpret the situation as anything but the following: as long as the tiniest blip in the cushioned existence of spoiled editorial journalists is interpreted as a social problem and every private affront is assessed as a failure of the authorities, true system collapse is still a long way off.”

Expressen (SE) /

Violence incurs major costs

In response to the text in Sydsvenskan, Expressen writes:

“To state that criminal gangs are costing the health system huge sums has nothing to do with conspiracy theories. Last year a report showed that every gang shooting costs society 75 million krona [around 7.1 million euros]. When Accident and Emergency departments not only in the big cities but also in Kalmar are forced [due to threats and violent attacks by criminals] to make renovations or recruit new security staff, the money has to come from somewhere. ... No, Moa Berglöf. The problem is not that newspaper editorial writers are spoiled. The problem is that some of them are too lazy to do their research.”