Australian National Review – Sweden increases justice budget to tackle crime

Sweden will increase spending on the justice system by 3.46 billion kronor ($335 million) in its 2025 budget in a bid to reduce crime, the country’s justice minister said on Wednesday.

Under the plans, the budget for the justice system will grow by 8 billion kronor, or 10 percent, annually to 86.7 billion kronor ($8.5 billion) in 2025.

The Scandinavian country has become a hotbed of gang violence, often involving minors, over the past decade, and now has the highest rate of gun violence per capita in the European Union.

Sweden has a population of just under 10.5 million people.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told a news conference that the number of shootings related to organized crime this year has been lower than in the same period in 2023, but there is a risk of further outbreaks of violence.

“There is still a lot bubbling under the surface,” Strömmer said. “We strive to restore safety in Sweden for all honest citizens. This mainly involves three things: tackling serious violence, cutting off the criminal economy and stopping the recruitment of children and young people into gangs.”

Strömmer said the government plans to increase spending on the justice system from 69 billion kronor ($6.7 billion) in 2023 to 100 billion kronor ($9.7 billion) in 2027.

The centre-right governing coalition, which is backed by the right-wing Sweden Democrats, is expected to submit its 2025 budget proposal to parliament on September 19.

Earlier this week, Strömmer said that a “realistic view” was that it would take 10 years to solve the country’s gang violence problem.

“The problems are certainly very serious and it will take time to permanently reverse the trend, not least as regards children,” Strömmer told the Financial Times.

Earlier this year, the Swedish parliament gave police permission to establish security zones, allowing them to search certain areas without a warrant or probable cause. Strömmer said the government also toughened sentences for juvenile offenders.

“There is a constant risk of new spirals of violence emerging beneath the surface,” he said.

Swedish authorities estimate that 62,000 people in the country have ties to criminal gangs.

The gangs often recruited members from immigrant neighborhoods. Most of the violence occurred in Sweden’s three largest cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

The rise in gang violence has recently led to problems between Sweden and neighboring Denmark.

Copenhagen announced last month that it would tighten inspections of trains crossing the Øresund Bridge, which connects the Danish capital to the Swedish city of Malmö.

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said at the time that police would be given more resources to monitor car traffic at the crossing.

“We are increasing surveillance, partly to increase safety, but also to prevent Swedish child soldiers from coming to Copenhagen to carry out tasks related to gang conflicts,” Hummellgard said.

He later said that since April there had been 25 cases of young Swedes being hired by Danes to commit crimes in Denmark.

Reuters contributed to this report.