Thursday, May 7th saw Sweden announce a plan to introduce electronic bracelets to monitor children at risk of being recruited by criminal gangs.
In the government’s latest measure aimed at cracking down on deadly gang violence, social services would be able to assign the bracelets to children and youths aged 13 and up. The government estimates that around 50 to 100 kids would be monitored—in a bid to ensure they were respecting curfews decided by social services.
Criminal gangs in Sweden increasingly recruit children and youths to commit murders and other violent acts, knowing they will not face prison time if caught as the age of criminal responsibility has until now been 15. As of July 1st, the age will be reduced to 13, for crimes punishable by at least four years in prison.
Social services minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall said there were 173 children under the age of 15 suspected of being involved in murders or murder plots. In addition, there were 52 so-called evidentiary proceedings against children last year, a legal process where a court decides if a child under the age of criminal responsibility is guilty, but the child is not punished.
The electronic bracelet proposal has faced criticism from children’s rights organisations, Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention, and Unicef, who have all expressed concerns about children’s civil liberties. Grönvall stated:
When children are at risk of falling into the clutches of serious criminals, we must have more tools to protect them.
Electronic monitoring should be usable in serious situations, in order to break a destructive pattern in time and guarantee the child’s safety.
