The role of public health professionals when crime are punishment dominate the debate

Abstract Children under the age of 15 are recruited by criminal networks and commit serious crimes. There is now a consensus that gang crime is one of the biggest societal challenges facing Sweden. The political debate has had a clear focus on repressive measures. The Swedish Parliament has voted for search zones, the introduction of child prisons, evictions of families when a child in the family is suspected of committing a crime, and increased penalties. Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years for serious crimes is the latest among the proposed reforms. What does public health have to offer in such a societal climate? Two things: a voice for children's rights and the value of evidence-based policies. The issue of lowering the age of criminal responsibility is an exceptional shift in the view of children and children's rights. Despite periods of high juvenile crime, the Swedish age of criminal responsibility has been 15 years since 1864. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has made it clear that lowering the age of criminal responsibility is contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is no scientific evidence that punishing younger children leads to a reduction in crime because it does not address the reasons why children commit serious crimes. Economic vulnerability, absent parents, school problems, exposure to violence, disability and exposure to gang crime are common. In fact, when Denmark lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 14 (to later revert to 15), children convicted during the reduction period were more likely to reoffend. Preventing recidivism after serious crimes requires intense treatment in the framework of a therapeutic approach, restoring attachment and important relationships with family. PTSD, depression, substance abuse and poor affect regulation, all common among juvenile offenders, also need to be treated. Repressive measures alone will not prevent recidivism - but will put the child on a criminal track. Key messages • Public health specialists need to insist on participating in the debate, protecting key societal values and offering evidence, to prevent putting more children on a criminal track for life. • It is especially frustrating when policies implemented not only lack evidence, but instead have evidence for harm and lack of effect; public health specialists need to speak up.