Sweden is preparing prisons for 13-year-old children, after criminal gangs are recruiting more and more minors.

The Swedish government intends to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13 years for serious offenses, a measure that would allow, in certain cases, the imprisonment of very young minors. The decision comes against the backdrop of an alarming increase in juvenile crime and the recruitment of children by organized crime networks to commit armed attacks, explosions, and other violent acts.

Authorities in Stockholm argue that gangs take advantage of the fact that minors under 15 cannot be criminally convicted, using them as executors in conflicts between criminal groups. The government claims that the measure is necessary to protect both children exploited by criminal networks and potential victims of these networks.

However, the project is controversial and has sparked opposition from the police, prosecutors, and the prison administration, who warn that lowering the age of criminal responsibility could attract even younger children into the criminal world and put pressure on the detention system.

Statistics show that the number of crimes involving suspects under 15 years old has doubled in the last decade in Sweden.