World Tour: Sweden’s crisis

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next: a World Tour special report.

Sweden is known for IKEA, cinnamon buns, and neutrality. But these days, it’s also making headlines for something else: a sharp increase in violent crime.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: In 2022 a conservative government came to power after nearly a century of progressive control. Immigration reform is high on the agenda, but the crisis goes deeper than border policy.

Europe Reporter Jenny Lind Schmitt has the story.

NEWS COVERAGE MONTAGE

JENNY LIND SCHMIT: Sweden has a growing problem with violent crime. In January alone, there were 30 gang-related explosions reported in the country. Fatal shootings doubled from 2013 to 2024, and people are starting to refer to Stockholm as the “murder capital of Europe.”

STOCKHOLM RESIDENT

The most recent mass shooting was in April in Uppsala. This woman lives in the residential neighborhood where the shooting occurred. She says she fears someday soon she could be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The most disturbing part is the involvement of children in the violence. In 2024, 120 children under 15 were accused of committing or participating in murders. Most of the children came from a disadvantaged, immigrant background.

In this documentary, a gang leader called Mr. Syndicate explains.

DOCUMENTARY CLIP: We never thought we were included. We never thought we were a part of this society…

Audio courtesy of 3Cat.

… They didn’t want us to integrate with the Swedish people. They put us in a corner here and we take the lowest possible jobs, either that or you start with the criminal activities.

Under Swedish law, youth under 15 cannot be convicted of or punished for serious crimes, including murder. That’s made vulnerable kids easy targets for gang leaders. They promise fast money and recruit children as young as 11 for contract killing. If the perpetrators are caught, and they’re under 15—the age of criminal responsibility—the consequences will be very light.

The cause for the violence is a complex intersection of crime gangs, drug trafficking, immigration, and Sweden’s relaxed social policies and citizenship laws. But that’s about to change.

Per Ewert is director of the Clapham Institute, Sweden’s leading Christian think tank.

PER EWERT: We have had severe problems in Sweden with crime, organized crime, gang criminality, and a lot of these have been connected with a failed integration project. And all parties realize this.

In January, the government proposed new tighter rules for acquiring citizenship.

Sweden has had one of Europe’s easiest citizenship processes. Along with the country’s generous welfare state, that has made it a top destination for refugees coming to Europe. In the migrant crisis of 20-15 and 20-16, Sweden welcomed more people per capita than any other European country. That influx put a strain on the nation’s social fabric.

Now, as part of the effort to combat organized crime and tighten controls, applicants must live in the country eight years, instead of five, and prove financial self-sufficiency and mastery of the Swedish language. Previously there were no language or financial requirements.

As part of the same proposal, the government wants to change the constitution to be able to revoke citizenship for people involved in gang-related crime.

EWERT: So if people commit these kinds of serious crime that threaten the system of society itself, it is suggested that such citizenship should be removed and they could be moved back to the nation where they actually have a citizenship.…

Ewert says that the proposal has backing across political parties in Sweden.

The government says it’s one step in slowing the crime bosses who direct the gangs from aboard, while taking advantage of their naturalized Swedish citizenship.

Here is Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer from earlier this year.

GUNNAR STRÖMMER: A challenge in Sweden not the least: We have 600 Swedish criminals outside our borders in 57 different countries orchestrating very severe organized crime in Sweden.

Ewert says that the hegemony in Swedish society and politics after World War Two created the stable and wealthy country Sweden has been known to be. But progressivism and the loosening ties of the church in society opened the door to policies that allowed for the current problems.

Some on Sweden’s right condemn all forms of immigration, arguing that immigrants bring violence with them. But others say organized crime gangs have existed in Sweden for a long time. Now they’re taking advantage of the disaffected children of immigrants. That means the solution is more complex than just stopping immigration.

Audio here courtesy of Unreported World.

CLIP: They try to blame it on immigration. But it is actually those who were born in Sweden who are more criminal. There are many vulnerable areas where youth haven’t received a proper upbringing and I blame this mistake on the Swedish government. And police harassment makes those in the suburbs feel like outsiders.

Meanwhile, the incessant violence could have an unexpected consequence. Along with other upheavals in Swedish society, the violence is pushing people to ask big questions about values and the meaning of life. The consequences of a godless social policy are showing. And Ewert says that can open doors for the gospel.

The divide between an open and closed door immigration policy runs through Sweden’s churches too. But Ewert sees how the influence of some immigrants into the country is positive and can help the Swedish evangelical church remain biblically sound.

EWERT: Yes, there are several dimensions to this and I think most conservative or evangelical Christians also see the need for input from migrating churches and migrating people to influence the very liberal Swedish mindset because most people who are Christians who come from other nations, they tend to be more conservative in their views.

Reporting for WORLD Tour Special Report, I’m Jenny Lind Schmitt.

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