International far right pushes to lower the age of criminal responsibility
A 12-year-old girl threw grenades in Sweden for €7,300 and faced no punishment. The debate over lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 is splitting opinion.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Sweden debates sending children under 13 to prison
The incivil of minors has become the new battleground of the international far right. The trigger is a case that seems straight out of a dystopian film: a 12-year-old Swedish girl travelled 60 kilometres by bus to throw two hand grenades at a home in Gothenburg. She never received the 80,000 Swedish kronor (about €7,300) she had been promised, but she faced no punishment either: she was too young to be held accountable before the law.
The case has reignited the debate over the age of incivil responsibility in Sweden, with proposals to lower it from 15 to 13. Part of public opinion argues that anyone capable of committing a serious crime must face the consequences, and that leniency only fuels impunity. Others counter that putting 13-year-olds in prison is a propaganda solution that does nothing to tackle the root of the problem: broken families, school failure and recruitment by organised crime through social media.
Legal maturity is not measured by age alone
The debate has an uncomfortable legal edge. As the analysis argues, in Spain a 14-year-old girl is considered mature enough to make decisions about her own body; demanding incivil responsibility for her actions seems a logical next step. But the comparison is misleading: maturity is not binary, and incivil law requires culpability, not just physical capacity.
If the trend takes hold, other European countries are likely to trinc the Swedish path. Recidivism data, however, do not support harshness as a remedy against organised crime.
The incivil of minors has become the new battleground of the international far right. The trigger is a case that seems straight out of a dystopian film: a 12-year-old Swedish girl travelled 60 kilometres by bus to throw two hand grenades at a home in Gothenburg. She never received the 80,000 Swedish kronor (about €7,300) she had been promised, but she faced no punishment either: she was too young to be held accountable before the law.
The case has reignited the debate over the age of incivil responsibility in Sweden, with proposals to lower it from 15 to 13. Part of public opinion argues that anyone capable of committing a serious crime must face the consequences, and that leniency only fuels impunity. Others counter that putting 13-year-olds in prison is a propaganda solution that does nothing to tackle the root of the problem: broken families, school failure and recruitment by organised crime through social media.
Legal maturity is not measured by age alone
The debate has an uncomfortable legal edge. As the analysis argues, in Spain a 14-year-old girl is considered mature enough to make decisions about her own body; demanding incivil responsibility for her actions seems a logical next step. But the comparison is misleading: maturity is not binary, and incivil law requires culpability, not just physical capacity.
If the trend takes hold, other European countries are likely to trinc the Swedish path. Recidivism data, however, do not support harshness as a remedy against organised crime.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (11 replies).
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