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CRIME

Sweden is the only European country where fatal shootings are on the rise

Sweden is the only country in Europe where the number of deadly shootings has increased substantially since the start of the century, a new report by the country's National Council on Crime Prevention (Brå) shows.

Published: 26 May 2021 13:24 CEST
Sweden is the only European country where fatal shootings are on the rise
Police technicians at the scene of a shooting in Malmö. The southern city has seen a recent decline in gun violence, but across Sweden there has been a clear upward trend since 2000. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

In Sweden, deadly shootings have risen since the year 2000, although other fatal violence has reduced in the same period, meaning that deadly violence as a whole has remained relatively steady. Brå noted that the decline in other forms of deadly violence has served to “hide” the rise in fatal shootings.

Brå’s most recent figures showed that 48 people died of gun violence in 2020 (4.6 per 1 million inhabitants), a rise of three from the year before.

Europe as a whole has seen a reduction in both deadly violence and deadly shootings over the same time period. The average rate of deadly shootings in the European countries studied has more than halved since 2000.

No other country included in the study has seen a similar rise in fatal shootings; while not all have seen a steady year-by-year decline (and England and Wales for example saw a rise in fatal knife violence), Sweden’s increase is the most stark, and has been steady since 2005. Brå’s most recent statistics suggest that deadly gun violence increased last year too.

The report compared Sweden with 22 countries in Europe using data on cause of death from Eurostat and Nordic authorities, and the data was compiled at the request of the Swedish government.

“Sweden has moved from close to the bottom of the European rankings [in terms of deadly violence per capita] to very high up. It is only Croatia which in the past four years [of available data across countries studied, 2014-2017] has a higher level of deadly shootings,” said Brå researcher Klara Hradilova Selin. Between 2000 and 2003, Sweden was 18th out of the 22 countries for deadly shootings per capita.

In 2018, the most recent year for which data was available (although it was not available for all countries), Sweden had the highest level of deadly shootings of the countries included. 

The report confirms what has been clear to people working in the police and other roles that come into contact with crime perpetrators or victims.

“The increased gun violence in Sweden is unique in comparison with most other countries in Europe, and there are no clear explanations for that,” Håkan Jarborg, a police chief in southern Sweden, told the TT newswire.

Most of the fatal shootings in Sweden (around 80 percent) had a link to organised crime, according to the study, a proportion which had risen from 30 to 50 percent in the early 2000s and less than 20 percent in the 1990s. Brå also compared the proportion to other countries: around 60 percent of fatal shootings were linked to organised crime in the Netherlands, while in Finland such events were extremely rare.

While Brå did not find a clear explanation for the rise, the study highlighted three possible developments: illegal drugs trade, conflicts within organised crime networks, and low levels of trust in the police, although the agency noted that these factors are present in other countries that have not seen a parallel rise.

“We don’t know why, it’s a kind of social contagion,” said Klara Hradilova Selin, adding: “If one shooting happens, very often another takes place close by in time and location.”

The report did find that the level of deadly knife violence was not significantly different in Sweden compared to the other countries studied, and there was neither a clear upward nor downward trend over the time period studied. Looking at other fatal violence, Sweden had slightly lower levels than the European average, and a decline over the period studied.

Member comments

  1. Why did crime increase in the past 4 years and not before ? As you write …“from close to bottom to very high up”…? There should be a analyze available. Who exactly is causing these shootings etc.? Could you share that knowledge or have it part of the next article? Looking forward to read more about this subject.

    1. Thanks for the comment and questions – fatal shootings (not crime or murders in general) didn’t only increase in the past 4 years, it’s been a steady rise since 2005. What has also happened is that fatal shootings have declined in most other European countries. I think the reason the researcher compared the figures for the first 3 years of the study with the figures from the last 3 years is to show the trend, and to show that it’s not just a one-year anomaly.

      The report from Brå didn’t focus on the reasons behind the shootings, but did note that young men were most often the perpetrators and the victims, and that most shootings had a link to organised crime. We will certainly keep writing on the subject.

  3. Hasn’t every one seen Snabba Cash!?
    I think it’s probably explaining it pretty good, they are just too coward to say.

  4. The increased shootings are probably caused by
    Immigration policy but you’re not allowed to talk about that

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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