Sweden’s Government has announced plans to introduce electronic bracelets to monitor children at risk of being recruited by criminal gangs, in the latest move aimed at tackling the country’s deadly gang violence.
Under the proposal, social services would be able to assign the bracelets to children and young people aged 13 and over. Officials estimated that around 50 to 100 children would be monitored to ensure they respected curfews set by social workers.
Criminal gangs in Sweden have increasingly recruited children and teenagers to carry out murders and other violent acts, in the knowledge that those caught would not face prison if below the age of criminal responsibility, currently set at 15.
From July 1, that age is to be reduced to 13 for crimes punishable by at least four years in prison, under separate legislation already approved by parliament.
Swedish social services minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall told reporters the electronic bracelet would be designed to resemble “a watch or bracelet, so it wouldn’t be as obvious or stigmatising” as the ankle devices worn by convicted criminals.
She said there were “173 children under the age of 15 suspected of being involved in murders or murder plots”.
The minister added that 52 so-called evidentiary proceedings were brought against children in 2025, a legal process under which a court decides whether a child below the age of criminal responsibility is guilty, though no punishment is imposed.
The proposal has faced criticism from children’s rights organisations, Sweden’s National Council for Crime Prevention and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), all of which have voiced concerns over children’s civil liberties.
Swedish police have been allowed to wiretap the electronic communications of children under the age of 15 since October 2025, as part of a wider expansion of investigative powers.
“When children are at risk of falling into the clutches of serious criminals, we must have more tools to protect them,” Waltersson Grönvall said in a statement.
She added: “Electronic monitoring should be usable in serious situations, in order to break a destructive pattern in time and guarantee the child’s safety.”
Sweden has reported a sharp rise in gun violence in recent years, with shootings and bombings linked to organised crime claiming dozens of lives annually and turning gang crime into one of the country’s defining political issues.
Sweden’s minority right-wing Government, propped up by the right-wing Sweden Democrats, has pushed through a series of proposals aimed at curbing crime and immigration ahead of the country’s general election on September 13.
