Children under 15 who commit serious offences

Summary

Number of offences linked to young suspects has increased, but the proportion subject to LUL investigations has remained stable

The study shows that the number of registered offences linked to suspects under the age of 15 has doubled over the past decade. The increase is mainly explained by a doubling of the number of cases involving assault, theft, unlawful threats or (non-sexual) molestation. Boys accounted for around three quarters of all such offences during most of the period examined, but the proportion of cases involving girls has increased slightly since 2021.

The number of offences that resulted in an LUL investigation has also increased, from just under 1,500 in 2015 to just over 3,500 in 2023. This is probably due to the increase in the number of registered offences linked to a suspect under the age of 15. However, the proportion of investigated offences linked to such young suspects has not increased. Of all registered offences involving children under the age of 15, approximately 10 per cent have resulted in an LUL investigation throughout the period examined. Boys accounted for just over 80 per cent of the offences that resulted in an LUL investigation throughout the period. Just under 60 per cent of the offences that resulted in an LUL investigation involved suspects aged 14, while just under 30 per cent involved 13-year-olds. These proportions have not changed significantly during the period examined.

Longer investigation times and regional differences

The most common reason for initiating an LUL investigation is that the offences carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison (40 per cent of all investigated offences), and the proportion initiated for this reason has also increased slightly during the period 2014–2023. Only one tenth of LUL
investigations were initiated at the request of social services, and this proportion has not changed significantly during the period.

During the same period, LUL investigations have taken an increasingly long time to complete, from a median of 47 days to 110 days. One possible explanation may be that there has been an increase in the proportion of offences that are generally more challenging to investigate.

The analysis shows clear regional differences in the application of the legislation. There are differences between the regions in the proportion of offences linked to a suspect under the age of 15 that result in an LUL investigation, and also in terms of the grounds recorded for the initiation of these LUL investigations. For example, the proportion of LUL investigations requested by social services varies considerably between regions. Median investigation times also vary at the regional level, but the increase in investigation times can be seen in all police regions.

The crimes that most commonly result in LUL investigation are violent offences and sex offences among individuals of the same age

During the years 2022–2023, assault was the most common offence type among those that resulted in an LUL investigation for both boys and girls. For boys, the second and third most common offences were robbery and rape, while for girls, the corresponding offences were theft and drug-related crime. The individuals subject to an LUL investigation had most often committed their offences together with acquaintances or friends of the same sex and of the same age or slightly older. The victims were also usually of the same sex and age, and in the majority of cases, the suspects and victims were acquaintances. Many of the violent offences, robberies and threat offences, had been motivated by conflicts or perceived insults among children. In the majority of LUL investigations concerning rape, the suspect was a lone boy who was usually acquainted with the victim (almost 9 of 10 victims were girls). In approximately one-quarter of the rape cases, the victim reported that violence had been used, and in just over one-tenth of the cases, the victim had been in a particularly vulnerable situation.

The analysis shows that many of the other offences subject to LUL investigation, such as arson or child pornography offences, had been committed as a result of either recklessness or ignorance regarding what
constitutes a crime or what the consequences might be. However, 30 per cent of the investigated offences committed by boys and 12 per cent of those committed by girls were assessed to be particularly serious, based on an assessment of the degree of violence used, the seriousness of planned violence, the injuries to the victim, the use of weapons or the degree of ruthlessness shown towards victims who were unable to defend themselves. These offences include, for example, murders and attempted murders, which are very rare in the material, and serious cases of assault, robbery, rape and weapons offences.

The children's living conditions are characterised by a concentration of social and psychiatric problems

The study shows that the children subject to LUL investigations typically grow up in disadvantaged socio-economic conditions compared with the population as a whole. Compared with the population aged 0–14, children subject to LUL investigations are twice as likely to live with a single parent, twice as likely to live in rented housing, and twice as likely to live in an area with socio-economic challenges. These children also live in households that are more likely to receive financial assistance, and they are more likely to have been born in Sweden or abroad to two foreign-born parents.

The study shows further that the children subject to LUL investigation are also at high risk of themselves having been the victims of crime. One-third of the boys and half of the girls had themselves been registered as crime victims in the year prior to their LUL offence, which is seven and ten times as common as among children of the same age in the general population. Furthermore, nearly half of the boys and half of the girls had previously been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Compared with the general population of the same age, a greater number of the children subject to LUL investigations had been placed in out-of-home care prior to committing the LUL offence. Almost one-fifth of the boys and one-tenth of the girls had been the subject of an LUL investigation prior to the current LUL offence.

Analyses of social services documentation (child welfare files) show that children subject to LUL investigations also have a number of other established risk factors for early-onset offending. Almost half of the girls had lived with a mother who lacked sufficient parenting skills and one-third with a father who lacked sufficient parenting skills at the time the investigated offence was committed. Among boys, the corresponding proportions are one-third and one-fifth. However, it was more common for the child to live with the mother and for the father to be absent from the child's life, which may explain why more mothers were assessed as lacking sufficient parenting skills – the fathers were not present to be assessed.

The social services documentation also shows that many of the children subject to LUL investigations had criminal peers and exhibited extensive school absenteeism, as well as recurrent or serious conflicts with other pupils or serious conflicts with teachers. According to information from the social services files, just over one-quarter of the children received special-needs teaching.

One-third of the boys and almost half of the girls were assessed by social services to have a worryingly high level of aggression, and just under one-third of the children had impulse control issues. A quarter of the boys and almost one-fifth of the girls were assessed to have difficulties concentrating and paying attention.

The children were already known to social services

Nearly nine of ten of the children examined had already been known to the social services in their municipality of residence before committing the offence that resulted in the LUL investigation, and notifications of concern had been submitted to the social services in relation to approximately half of both the girls and the boys prior to the age of 12. It was primarily schools and the police who had reported concerns prior to the current LUL offence, and these reports were mainly the result of the children having already exhibited deviant behaviour. This was the case for half of the boys and two-thirds of the girls. For half of both boys and girls, at least one previous notification of concern had been submitted as a result of a previous offence (which had not necessarily resulted in an LUL investigation). For about half of both boys and girls, the notifications of concern also related to parent-related risk factors.

A majority of the children had previously been the subject of interventions

Two-thirds of the boys and four-fifths of the girls had been the subject of at least one intervention or measure from the social services prior to the LUL offence. The most common interventions prior to the LUL offence were
family counselling, family therapy or individual counselling directed at the child’s parents.

Subsequent to the LUL offences, decisions on interventions were made in relation to approximately the same proportion of boys as had received interventions prior to the offence, but only for just over half of the girls. In addition, a small proportion of both boys and girls already had an ongoing intervention at the time of the LUL investigation. Even after the LUL offence, the most common intervention was family counselling or family therapy, and the second most common intervention for both boys and girls was a decision on a placement of the child under the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (LVU).

One-quarter of the boys are assessed to have been involved in a criminal network

Of the children included in Brå’s sample of children subject to an LUL investigation in 2023, just over one-quarter of the boys and one in twenty of the girls were assessed to have been involved in a criminal network.

Boys involved in a criminal network are often investigated for aggravated assault and robbery

The number of girls in the sample with links to a criminal network is too small for analysis, but the analysis of boys shows that their LUL investigations most often concerned assault (primarily aggravated), robbery, weapons offences or obstructing the course of justice. All of these offences were more common among boys involved in a criminal network than boys with no such involvement. The analyses also show that the LUL offences linked to boys involved in a criminal network were more likely to be characterised by more serious violence and the presence of weapons, compared with the offences linked to boys who were not involved in a criminal network. It was also more common for the boys involved in a criminal network to have committed their offences with co-offenders who were at least three years older than themselves.

Consistently poorer socio-economic situation than other boys investigated for serious offences

The boys involved in criminal networks had grown up under worse socio-economic conditions than the other boys subject to LUL investigations. They were almost twice as likely to have grown up in rented housing and in
areas with socio-economic challenges. Their families were also more likely to have received financial assistance. They were almost three times as likely to have been born in Sweden to foreign-born parents than other boys who had been the subject of LUL investigations.

A more pronounced risk profile in other areas of life as well

The boys involved in criminal networks were equally likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis as other boys subject to LUL investigations (usually hyperactivity disorders), but they tended to have come to the attention of the social services somewhat later. A distinctive feature of the risk profile of the boys involved in a criminal network is that they more often associated with other offenders (particularly older individuals, which is probably related to their involvement in a criminal network), but they also exhibited higher levels of risk in the areas of leisure time activities, emotions and behaviour, and school. Compared to other boys subject to LUL investigations, the boys with links to a criminal network were four times as likely to have been assessed to have drug problems, and more than twice as likely to have been assessed by the social services as having had conflicts with teachers.

The boys involved in criminal networks had been the subject of more extensive interventions and measures prior to the LUL offence

The social services decisions on interventions and measures prior to the LUL offence indicate that they perceived the boys involved in criminal networks to be living with a complex combination of difficulties. Compared to other boys subject to LUL investigations, it was more common for the boys with links to criminal networks to have been the subject of decisions on coordinated measures from several different actors (including the police, social services and school) prior to the LUL offence. It was also more common for these boys to have been offered support for substance abuse problems and to have been subject to LVU placements prior to the LUL offence. They had also received interventions in the form of outpatient programmes and contact persons, contact families and specially qualified contact persons to a greater extent than other boys subject to LUL investigations.

Compulsory placements the most common measure following an LUL offence

Subsequent to the LUL offence, the single most common measure taken for boys with links to a criminal network was a placement under the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (LVU), which was three times more common than among other boys subject to LUL investigations. Other relatively common measures for boys with links to criminal networks were family counselling or family therapy, individual counselling and other types of outpatient programmes. Being subject to these measures was about as common as it was among boys who were not involved in a criminal network.

Interviewed children’s experiences of social services support and encounters with the justice system

Of the 17 young people interviewed, almost all have experience of being involved in a criminal network. A majority described their early experiences of support from the social services as negative. In many ways, this was linked to their own low motivation to change their criminal behaviour at an early stage of their offending careers. Their stories included receiving several interventions and measures over the years that they felt had not helped them. Several mentioned that interventions that are actually voluntary in practice felt like compulsory interventions, as their consent to these interventions was given against the background of a threat of being given longer interventions or being placed in accordance with the LVU Act. When they received interventions during periods of low motivation, several said that they had the opposite effect to that desired. Several described perceiving the interventions given at a later stage of their criminal development as generally more positive, which is related to the fact that they were then more motivated to desist from their criminal activity and, at the same time they understood the aims of the support measures better as they became a little older.

When asked to describe the support measures they wanted but had not received, most of the young people mentioned that they needed stable and relatively long-term relationships with adults who could provide support, and who really cared about them and understood their situation. They also wished that they had been given the opportunity to talk about their experiences and challenges to adults in a supporting role who were not part of the system, without this resulting in new notifications of concern and interventions.

Success factors and challenges according to social services, the police and schools

In interviews and at a workshop, representatives of the social services, the police, schools, and other key agencies that work with children who commit offences have highlighted several challenges and success factors that they experience in their work with these children. One challenge is the need to intervene early and intensively before the children become too deeply involved in crime. The informants stated that this can sometimes be difficult as a result of several factors: it is difficult to know at an early stage which children need interventions or what type of interventions they need, guardians do not always recognise the problems and are not always open to receiving support, guardians do not always have the capacity to receive the type of support offered, and sometimes the interventions that are deemed necessary are not available or possible. These may, for example, include the provision of practical support for guardians, or evidence-based interventions for children with more severe problems. The informants also stated that interventions need to involve the child and adolescent psychiatric sector to a greater extent than is currently the case in order to meet the needs of children with neuropsychiatric diagnoses.

One of the success factors highlighted in the interview study and at the workshop was the use of structured risk and needs assessments in preliminary assessments or the assessments conducted in accordance with the Social Services Act, since doing so could, among other things, lead to more consistent assessments. Most of the informants from the social services believed that LUL investigations can have a positive effect in motivating guardians to accept interventions, but where such motivation is not considered necessary, they find it difficult to see the benefit of LUL investigations. Informants from social services also stated that it would be desirable to be able to provide a broader variety of interventions in order to be able to adapt them to the individual circumstances of the child or the child’s guardian(s), to use greater flexibility in deciding on longer-term interventions, and to improve access to the interventions that the National Board of Health and Welfare recommends the social services to use.

Informants from the social services, the police and schools perceive that effective, structured collaborations between the actors who are central to children with offending problems constitute a success factor, although evaluations of these collaborations and individual follow-ups are needed to a greater extent than is the case today. All informants raised the importance of the inclusion of the child and adolescent psychiatric sector in these collaborations, and noted that this sector is currently still absent from collaborations focused on children who commit serious offences. The psychiatric sector is viewed as being of central importance to these collaborations due to the high prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses among the children in question. The interviewees also stated that the social services, and schools in particular, are faced with an impossible task when these children do not receive the psychiatric or psychological support they need to arrest their deviant development. The informants raised the need for improvements in the level of resources available to the child and adolescent psychiatric sector in order to meet the needs of these children.