Sweden: sharp increase in youth robbery
A report published by Sweden's State Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) shows that the number of reported robberies in which the victims and perpetrators are youths has more than doubled in recent years. The report also indicates that the number of cases in which the perpetrators come from a migration background is far higher than for the victims. The press voices anger at the ineffectiveness of the authorities.
Time to introduce victim studies at schools?
Biting irony from Dagens Nyheter:
“Is it finally time [for the authorities] to take tough measures? The police could do a much better job of informing our youths about how to minimise the risk of being robbed, for example. How expensive can their jacket be? Which mobile phone models are so outdated that their 13-year-old owners needn't worry about being robbed at knifepoint? ... Maybe we should even introduce a new subject in school - victim studies? The health authority could issue recommendations regarding the minimum distance to the offender. ... Or we could do something really crazy: actually take action to stop the criminals who are terrorising an entire generation of youths with their enormous capacity for violence.”
Lenient sentences are pure mockery
The sentences are far too lenient for such crimes, Göteborgs-Posten writes incensed:
“A change is needed, and a radical one at that. The focus must be on the rights of the victims. Those who have committed a serious crime must receive proportionate punishment, so that both the victim and society can have just satisfaction. This is a question of decency. The fact that Swedish criminal law is so far removed from anything that could be considered morally acceptable undermines confidence in the social contract.”