Sweden has unveiled the prison conditions that children as young as 13 will face once a controversial juvenile justice reform takes effect in July a move that has deepened national debate over how far the country should go in its fight against violent crime.
The right‑wing minority government, backed by the far‑right Sweden Democrats, announced earlier this year that it would lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13. Despite consulting 126 agencies the majority of which opposed the reform, including the police and prison service the government has pressed ahead, arguing that Sweden’s crime landscape has changed too dramatically to ignore.
For more than a decade, the country has struggled to contain a wave of gang‑related violence, with bombings and shootings becoming disturbingly common. Criminal networks have increasingly recruited children under 15 as hitmen, knowing they could not be imprisoned under existing laws. The government says that loophole must now close.
Eight prisons have been instructed to prepare special child‑only sections, with three set to open by July 1. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said the young inmates will be kept separate from adults and locked in their cells for 11 hours at night slightly less than the 14‑hour confinement for adults. They will attend school during the day and have access to their own cafeteria, recreation yard, gym and infirmary.
Currently, minors convicted of serious crimes are typically sent to SIS homes closed youth detention centres focused on care and rehabilitation rather than punishment. But in recent years, many of these facilities have become fertile recruiting grounds for the same criminal networks authorities are trying to dismantle.
Strömmer defended the reform, saying Sweden’s social landscape has shifted. “Society and crime have changed fundamentally,” he said. “Young people in general commit fewer crimes. But those who do commit more and much more serious crimes.”
As the July deadline approaches, critics warn the policy risks being counter‑productive, pushing vulnerable children deeper into criminality rather than steering them away from it. Supporters argue the state has no choice but to adapt to a harsher reality.
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