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HEALTH

Swedish opposition proposes ‘rapid tests for ADHD’ to cut gang crime

The Moderate Party in Stockholm has called for children in so called "vulnerable areas" to be given rapid tests for ADHD to increase treatment and cut gang crime.

Swedish opposition proposes 'rapid tests for ADHD' to cut gang crime
Irene Svenonius, the head of Region Stockholm. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

In a press release, the party proposed that treating more children in troubled city areas would help prevent gang crime, given that “people with ADHD diagnoses are “significantly over-represented in the country’s jails”. 

The idea is that children in so-called “vulnerable areas”, which in Sweden normally have a high majority of first and second-generation generation immigrants, will be given “simpler, voluntary tests”, which would screen for ADHD, with those suspected of having the neuropsychiatric disorder then put forward for proper evaluations to be given by a child psychiatrist. 

“The quicker you can put in place measures, the better the outcomes,” says Irene Svenonius, the party’s leader in the municipality, of ADHD treatment, claiming that children in Sweden with an immigrant background were less likely to be medicated for ADHD than other children in Sweden. 

In the press release, the party said that there were “significant differences in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD within Stockholm country”, with Swedish-born children receiving diagnosis and treatment to a higher extent, and with ADHD “with the greatest probability” underdiagnosed in vulnerable areas. 

At a press conference, the party’s justice spokesman Johan Forsell, said that identifying children with ADHD in this areas would help fight gang crime. 

“We need to find these children, and that is going to help prevent crime,” he said. 

Sweden’s climate minister Annika Strandhäll accused the Moderates of wanting to “medicate away criminality”. 

Lotta Häyrynen, editor of the trade union-backed comment site Nya Mitten, pointed out that the Moderates’s claim to want to help children with neuropsychiatric diagnoses in vulnerable areas would be more credible if they had not closed down seven child and youth psychiatry units. 

The Moderate Party MP and debater Hanif Bali complained about the opposition from left-wing commentators and politicians.

“My spontaneous guess would have been that the Left would have thought it was enormously unjust that three times so many immigrant children are not getting a diagnosis or treatment compared to pure-Swedish children,” he said. “Their hate for the Right is stronger than their care for the children. 

Swedish vocab: brottsförebyggande – preventative of crime 

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CRIME

IN NUMBERS: Has Sweden’s wave of deadly gang violence peaked?

The number of deadly shootings in Sweden has fallen after hitting a record in 2022, according to the latest annual statistics from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå). But violent killings continued to rise and more women and youths were victims.

IN NUMBERS: Has Sweden's wave of deadly gang violence peaked?

How bad was 2023 for violent homicide in general? 

With 121 violent homicides recorded, 2023 was the worst year for murder in Sweden since 2020, when 124 people were killed in violent attacks, continuing a rising trend seen since 2021. The number of violent killings was up 4 percent on 2022, when 116 people were killed. 

It’s worth pointing out, however, that this is still lower than the 129 people who died of “murder, manslaughter or violent attack” in Sweden back in 1989,  when the population was nearly 20 percent lower. 

The graph below shows how the number of violent homicides in Sweden rose sharply in about 2014, after which it has seen a gradual but unsteady increase.  

Homicides in Sweden between 2013 and 2023. Source: Brå
 
What about deadly shootings?
 
When it comes to the gang shootings that have dominated headlines in Sweden in recent years, there were signs of improvement, with 53 people shot dead in 2023, down from a record 63 in 2022.  
 
It’s hardly great news though, as 2023 still witnessed the second highest number of deadly shootings ever recorded in Sweden. 
 
The number of fatal stabbings also increased slightly in 2023 to 41 from 35 in 2022. 

 

Deadly shootings, stabbings and other forms of violent murder between 2013 and 2023. Source: Brå
 
Tragically, in 2023, gang criminals in Sweden increasingly began to target the relatives and loved ones of their rivals and also to use minors in their gang wars, leading to a spike in the number of women and youths killed. 
 
Ten more women and nine more people under the age of 18 died in violent attacks in 2023 than in 2022, pushing the number of female victims to 33 and the number of youth victims to 17. 
 
“This year more minors and women have been homicide victims compared with the year before,” Jan Lundbeck, a statistician at the council said in a press release. “This is partly a result of conflicts in criminal circles which had had deadly consequences in which people under the ae of 18 and even women have been affected.” 

Ten of the 33 women killed were in a relationship with their killer, the same number as in 2022. 

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