New national strategy to strengthen crime prevention efforts

“The serious escalation of violence linked to criminal networks is one of the biggest societal challenges of our time. Society as a whole must substantially step up its crime prevention efforts. For this reason, the Swedish Government has produced an in-depth strategy specifically designed for preventive social work,” says Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer.

“Preventive measures, better collaboration and increased accessibility are required to stop the recruitment of children and young people to criminal gangs. This includes giving social services the necessary tools to protect and support children and young people. A key part of this is the new Social Services Act, which will enable social services to take more preventive action before needs arise,” says Minister for Social Services Camilla Waltersson Grönvall.

“Crime prevention efforts entail seeing every child and not letting go. And we need to do this in time, using systematic and effective preventive measures where several actors work together. For more children and young people to feel hope for the future, it's essential that we ensure they find communities other than criminal gangs,” says Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed.

“It’s crucial that all children do well in school. We know that good schooling strengthens children’s and young people’s future prospects, and it is one of the most important protective factors to prevent exclusion, crime, addiction and ill health. This is why schools need better possibilities to provide the right support at the right time,” says Minister for Schools Lotta Edholm.

Barriärer mot brott (barriers to crime), a social prevention strategy against criminal networks and other crime, states that one starting point is taking measures at many levels – broad and early measures, and targeted measures for risk groups and people who have already committed crimes. Efforts at these levels form three barriers to crime:

• the first barrier to crime – broad preventive efforts;
• the second barrier to crime – negative trends must be broken early; and
• the third barrier to crime – criminal careers must be stopped.

These include developing crime prevention efforts in schools, strengthening parental responsibility and improving support to custodial parents, giving social services more opportunities to support and help children and young people, and developing efforts to prevent recidivism.  

The work to develop the strategy began in 2023. In parallel with the efforts by the Government Offices, knowledge has been acquired through visits, meetings and dialogues with researchers and representatives of government agencies, municipalities, the business sector and civil society.