Opinion: Uphold the UNCRC and prioritise preventive measures

The full text of the opinion on youth prisons and lowering the age of criminal responsibility:

The Church of Sweden views with concern the fact that increasingly younger children are being engaged in serious crime. When children and young people are being exploited and committing criminal acts, society must react.

In response to these developments, the Swedish Government has drafted legislation to establish special youth prisons within the Swedish Prison and Probation Service from 1 July 2026 and to temporarily lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 years for certain serious crimes from 1 July 2026. The Church of Sweden is positive towards the intention of preventing children being recruited to commit crime and of reinforcing societal protection.

At the same time, the draft legislation represents a clear shift towards more repressive measures targeting children. The criticism levelled at the proposals for youth prisons and a lowered age of criminal responsibility is broad and unanimous. Research supports the view that early detention can exacerbate problems, and evidence to suggest that harsher sentences reduce youth crime is weak. The Convention on the Rights of the Child’s requirements for proportionality, rehabilitation and the best interests of the child are in danger of being displaced. To break the pattern of criminal recruitment in the long term, research and expertise indicate that enhanced preventive measures, early detection and social support measures generate more lasting results.

The Church of Sweden has extensive experience of encountering children in need of support, community and meaning. The priests and deacons of the Church of Sweden are available to provide spiritual care at most of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service’s remand centres and prisons and therefore have experience of the conditions and consequences of the prison environment. The experience of the Church of Sweden shows that the cessation of criminal activity is made possible through early intervention,

relationships and trust, not through lowering the age of criminal responsibility and establishing youth prisons.

The Church of Sweden therefore urges the Swedish Government and Riksdag (Parliament) to refrain from reforms in contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, enhance preventive efforts and ensure that children who have committed offences receive effective support and rehabilitation.

Facts

In November 2025, the General Synod decided to commission the Central Board of the Church of Sweden to issue an opinion in response to the Swedish Government’s inquiry into custodial sentences for young people. At its meeting on 24 March, the Standing Committee of the Central Board decided to adopt the opinion.