00:00do these juveniles need soft toys or not that's one of the questions facing rosesberg prison
00:07governor gabriel westman as sweden prepares to jail some offenders as young as 13.
00:12these are people who have committed serious crimes but still there are young adults
00:21and some even it could be at that point that some of them doesn't have reached puberty yet
00:27located north of stockholm the prison is one of three in the country being rebuilt to hold violent
00:33teenage offenders from july those convicted of crimes such as aggravated assault murder and rape
00:39could be sent here sweden's tougher approach follows a surge in gang-related shootings and bombings
00:47many involving minors over the past decade the government says the country's reliance on social
00:53services has failed and it wants to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13.
01:01parliament will vote on the proposed law in mid-june that would send some of the youngest
01:06and most serious offenders to special prisons instead of youth homes according to justice
01:12minister gunnar stromir more than 50 under 15s were involved in legal trials last year over
01:18suspected or attempted murder overall we assess that we have a very acute and very serious situation
01:26with life-threatening violence that also justifies far-reaching measures of this kind
01:31but critics including sweden's law enforcement and prison authorities have voiced concerns about
01:37locking up children prisons aren't a place where you put 13 year olds left party group leader samuel gonzalez
01:44westling says his party is strongly opposed to the policy he says there are other institutions for
01:50these children who are in serious need of help the right-wing government which faces a tight election
01:56in september where crime is a key issue says its crackdown has brought results it says shooting
02:02deaths have dropped and more gang members are behind bars but stopping gangs recruiting young people
02:08will be much harder police say criminal networks use social media to reach kids some as young as 11
02:16the government says prison will act as a deterrent and intensive rehabilitation programs will prevent re-offending
02:24that's despite neighbor denmark raising its criminal age back up to 15 after lowering the age to 14 saw no
02:32effect on crime
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