Police officers in Stockholm, Sweden, which has the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU. Photograph: Ilvy Njiokiktjien/The New York TimesThe killer was only 14 and had lived in youth homes as a ward of the authorities since he was eight.
Sweden has long prided itself on one of the world's most generous social safety nets, with a state that looks after vulnerable people at all stages of life. According to accounts for this story from eight sources including a former gang member, several youth home workers, prosecutors and criminologists, the homes have turned into recruiting grounds for gangs, who use them to enlist killers too young to be jailed.
“I was a troubled teen when I entered and came out a career criminal. I went from fighting and stealing from other kids to selling drugs by the kilo,” said Yayha, who asked that his surname not be used to prevent his former gang from finding him. “It is obvious that our system wasn’t built for this type of criminality,” says justice minister Gunnar Strommer.
Sweden’s youth homes have varying degrees of security, with about 700 of the most troubled youths housed in 21 homes run by a state body, the National Board of Institutional Care . Birgitta Dahlberg, head of youth care at the SiS, said it was unfair to blame the homes for their inability to deal with serious violent offenders, which they were not designed to handle.
In theory, the youth homes aim to rehabilitate young offenders to prevent them from becoming adult criminals. But according to a report released weeks ago by the Swedish National Audit Office, which supervises government, nine out of 10 gang-affiliated youngsters at youth homes go on to relapse into crime, and almost eight out of 10 eventually end up in prison.
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