The boy was only 16 years old when he shot and killed a man on an open street in Hagalund, Solna, last year. Now he is facing a prison sentence of nearly ten years, following a verdict in the Svea Court of Appeal on Friday.
Several similar verdicts have been handed down over the past year (see fact box) – and recently, the prosecutor also demanded that the boy who, at the age of 16, is suspected of having brutally murdered three people in Västberga and Tullinge, be sentenced to 12 years in prison. The verdict will fall in about a week.
At the same time, many young offenders have believed that the maximum sentence if caught would be four years of closed youth care. The police have described how gang members' child soldiers have been willing to "do a four" to become a "hundred-grand guy".
The prison sentences being handed out are taking place without any of the legislative changes planned by the government having come into effect.
Contract Murder
Tobias Kudrén, a senior prosecutor at the Prosecution Authority, sees several possible explanations.
Many things suggest that more young people are committing serious crimes, but also that the crimes are being cleared up to a greater extent. This means that more young people are being convicted of the most serious crimes, he says.
In addition, the penalty for murder was tightened four years ago, so that more people are now being sentenced to life imprisonment. Even 18-year-olds, since the discount for them was abolished. This has opened up the possibility of sentencing even younger offenders to prison terms.
The principle is not to sentence minors to prison. But it depends on how high the sentence value is. If an adult would have been sentenced to the longest prison terms, the possibility exists, says Tobias Kudrén.
A contract murder in a gang environment typically has a higher sentence value than, for example, an impulsive knife murder at a party, he says.
Prosecutors Inspired
If the sentence value is assessed as life imprisonment, it normally means seven-eight years in prison for a 17-year-old, after the so-called youth discount.
It can become even higher if it involves multiple serious crimes. As in the case of the 16-year-old in Hagalund, who was also convicted of two attempted murders on another occasion.
Tobias Kudrén also believes that prosecutors are inspired by each other.
There is no national guidance, but we prosecutors read verdicts and see how it goes for others. If you have a similar case, you might want to get it tried.
It may now be relevant to go to the Supreme Court to get a precedent on young people who commit serious gang murders.
The courts judge a little differently. It's not impossible that we want the Supreme Court to try a question like this fairly soon. There are quite a few cases with minors to be tried in the future.
In July, a boy who, at the age of 16, shot and killed a young man in Västerås last summer was sentenced to six years in prison by the Svea Court of Appeal.
In May, a boy who was 17 years old when he murdered a man in Ronna, Södertälje, in a so-called mistaken shooting in 2022 was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison by the same court. The shooter is believed to have mistaken the person.
The same month, another boy who was 17 years old when he shot and killed a man in front of family members and children in Flemingsberg in 2023 was sentenced to seven years in prison by the district court.
In October last year, a boy was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Court of Appeal after, as a 17-year-old, shooting and killing a man in a car in Haninge in a mistaken shooting. The sentence also included two cases of preparation for murder.
Young people between 15-17 years old can be sentenced to prison if there are exceptional circumstances.
The main reason is that the crime has a high sentence value. The more serious the crime, the higher the sentence value.
The sentence becomes shorter than what it would have been for an adult due to the youth discount. A 15-year-old gets about a fifth of the sentence an adult would have received, a 16-year-old a quarter, and a 17-year-old a third.
No one who is 15-17 years old is currently serving a prison sentence. This is because many will have turned 18-19 years old by the time they are sentenced.
The government is currently preparing a legislative proposal to reduce the sentence discount for minors. It is intended to come into effect in the summer of 2026.
Source: lawline, prosecutor Tobias Kudrén, Prison and Probation Service, TT
