Guide: This is how the penal code for young people works

Two locker rooms determine how young people can receive reduced penalties. One is the quantity discount, which applies regardless of age. It enters into force when a person is convicted of several different offenses in the same trial and is motivated by the fact that the legislators consider that the total penalty would be unreasonably large if the individual value of each offense was combined.

The second thing that determines the length of the sentence is the so-called youth discount.

• The youth discount applies to convicted persons who are under the age of 21 at the time of the crime and are motivated by, among other things, that research shows that young people have an undeveloped responsibility capacity compared to adults and that they are hit harder by detention than adults.

• The discount is based on the principle that the younger the person, the shorter the sentence length should be. According to practice, a sentenced person who is 20 years old receives about three-quarters of the sentence - a 15-year-old receives about a fifth.

• For persons under the age of 18 to receive prison, special reasons are required. If the penalty is equivalent to imprisonment, the penalty for closed youth care is normally determined if the person is under 18 years of age.

"Hassan" is sentenced to 13 charges for crimes with a total penalty value of just over 31 months in prison - in the end, he receives two months of youth care.

It goes like this:

• When "Hassan" is 16 years old, he is convicted of several crimes, most committed when he was 15 years old.

• About half of the 31 months' imprisonment disappears in bulk - up to 16 months.

• Then there is the youth discount which reduces the penalty to just under a fifth, three months.

• In closed youth care there is no conditional release, as in prison sentences when the sentenced person can be released after two-thirds of served time. For youth care, one-third of the penalty is instead counted already when the verdict is established. Remaining will be two months closed youth care.

• Since "Hassan" was only 15 years old when most of the crimes were committed, special reasons are required for closed care, and according to the law, the crimes were not serious enough. Instead, he receives two months of youth care.

The youth discount is disputed. An investigation, commissioned by the government, proposes a scrapped youth discount for people between the ages of 18 and 20. This proposal has since been criticized by several referral bodies.