A number of years ago, the Gothenburg region compiled interviews with young people who chose to commit crimes. The primary impetus for the young people was to equalize status, not only in terms of material standards but also the status of having the same choices and future as everyone else.

The criminal youth knew that they did not have the same conditions as others. If life was already unfavorable to them - why would they play by the rules?

The way to break crime in young people is to create the conditions for making other life choices. There is no unreasonable effort that is really needed to bring about a change.

It's about these young people having as good opportunities as everyone else to achieve a good life.

This is done through methodical work with one family and one individual at a time. Planning with the individual is about activating several community functions. For example, the social service intervention plan may include:

  • That the youth receive help with substance abuse or ill health problems.
  • That contact with the health care is characterized by care and supervision.
  • Getting support in contact with the authorities, it is often difficult to understand what the authorities want.
  • To be able to support around the clock, as others have with their parents.
  • To receive support for education and participation in school, "to do as others to become as others".
  • Getting support with homework or everyday activities, just like other young people have with their parents.
  • Activating the person's network and incorporating sound values.

The point is that, when the parents are unable to convey this, the social service must act and compensate.

The most important ingredient is that you do not give up and that you work methodically and purposefully for a change. Simply put, it is about generating future faith, setting boundaries and providing positive reinforcement of the behavior that is desirable.

Above all, persistence is required, similar to a parent who never ever gives up on their child.

Society should be tough against criminal acts, but also create the conditions for young people to be able to choose the right path.

The principle that should be guiding is that the worse the crime, the more persistent we need to be. We do not get a changed human behavior through just a hard time. We must work systematically and think long term for the future.

This is where we have the system failure - we let go and lose our tenacity when we meet people with really serious and destructive crime and then only the hard ones are left.

It is purely the case that the more serious the behavior, the less we do of what is needed. The strange thing is that we have the knowledge for a long time, but we just do nothing about it.

Right now, there is a need for politicians who persistently push this, not hard symbolic politics, which in the long run will have the opposite effect.