Sweden plans tougher sentencing to target gang violence and repeat offenders

Sweden’s government moved on June 30 to tighten criminal sentencing, pushing courts to hand down longer terms for serial offenders and to use the higher end of the punishment scale more often as gang violence stays near the center of the country’s election fight. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer’s plan targets cases where repeat crime has, in practice, gone largely unpunished.

The proposal would end a long-standing practice in which sentencing for several offenses is driven mainly by the most serious one. Under the old approach a fourth or fifth fraud, theft or similar offense could effectively carry no extra punishment. The government also wants judges to give less weight to mitigating factors such as loss of employment, which can now soften a sentence.

On April 9, the Justice Ministry advanced a proposal called Double penalties for crimes in criminal networks and tougher sentencing ranges. The aim was to make punishment better reflect the seriousness of crimes, strengthen victims’ position and improve public protection. On June 6, 2025, a government-ordered inquiry led by National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh proposed harsher penalties for about 50 offenses and estimated the package could amount to roughly 16,000 additional prison-years sentenced per year. The government has also advanced longer penalties for gang crimes, greater electronic surveillance powers for police and prison terms for offenders as young as 14.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing government is polling badly, crime remains one of the country’s top voter concerns and September’s election is approaching. For two decades, gang crime has driven debate toward tougher policing, expanded surveillance and harder prison rules, even as shootings have fallen significantly over the past four years. Brottsförebyggande rådet, Sweden’s official crime-prevention agency, puts the country’s homicide rate above that of many other EU countries, with the increase mainly tied to gun violence in the criminal milieu. Its 2024 Crime Survey found concern about crime in society fell in the latest year, but the broader trend over the past decade still points upward.