Increase in crime among the youngest in Oslo – Greater Oslo

– This is a negative development. It must be met with a concerted and reinforced effort, says city council leader Eirik Lae Solberg (H) in a press release.

The annual report from Oslo municipality and Oslo police district shows that after a fall in the extent of youth crime in the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, registered youth crime in Oslo is now back at and above old levels.

Most reviews are for less serious violence. The most serious cases of violence make up only a small proportion of the reports.

– These figures show that we must do more

– It is necessary to have a strengthened police force, but for this age group, preventive work is extra important.

For some, this means close follow-up person to person, while for others it is sufficient with general preventive measures such as offering children and young people summer jobs and leisure activities, says Lae Solberg.

He says that over several years, many good measures have been put in place to combat youth crime.

– But these figures show that we have to do more, he says.

He announces more and bigger measures in the future. Three of them are:

• To strengthen the school.
  – The school’s finances will be strengthened, we did that in the budget for 2024 and have also included it in the budget for 2025. In addition, the school health service will be invested in, says Lae Solberg.
• A scheme where all children in Oslo can participate in leisure activities regardless of their parents’ finances.
  – It is important for children to have other arenas in which to succeed, so that they can feel pride in achieving something good, says Lae Solberg.
• Oslo municipality has its own program to help people out of crime.
  – It is also important to help children who have already fallen into crime out of that environment. There we have The Exin programwhich is successful, and which we must continue to focus on, says Lae Solberg.

97% of children and young people are not registered with crime

It is among the children who are between 10 and 14 years old that there is more and more crime. In this age group, there is now more crime than there was before the pandemic.

For young people aged 15–17, the number of reviews is on a par with 2019, i.e. before the pandemic.

The report shows that most reports for physical violence are for bodily harm, and the most serious cases of violence make up a small proportion of reports for physical violence.

But the vast majority of children and young people are not involved in crime. Around 97% of children between the ages of 10 and 17 are not registered with crime.

Maybe the situation is better than the impression we have

– I am unsure whether the increase among children and young people who are reported for violence is as real and large as the police figures show.

So says researcher at Oslo Met, Stian Lid. He believes the report is interesting, but that it must be taken with a grain of salt.

– Is it the case that children and young people commit more crime? Or is it that children and young people are reported more than before for the thefts and the violence they commit?

We ask ourselves that question far too little, he believes. Among other things, he points to the media and says they fail when they rely too much on the police’s figures without asking critical questions.

– Then you can get the impression that things are worse than they really are, says the researcher.

And that can lead to putting in the wrong measures.

– Could it also lead to a contagion effect, in that when a lot is written about crime among young people, more young people are inspired to choose the same path?

– Yes, potentially.

The police do not know whether crime is actually increasing

– Our statistics show that there is an increase, but we agree that you have to look at the whole, says Jane Bechmann Dahl, head of prevention in the Oslo police district.

– Are the numbers higher because more reports are made than before, or is there an actual increase in youth violence in Oslo?

– We don’t have a clear answer to that, says Dahl.

Dahl is particularly concerned that violence is increasing among those under the age of 15, but even there there are nuances.

– Most of these reports are for bodily harm, and that is the lowest and least serious within the offense category, she clarifies.

The police also emphasize that the vast majority of children and young people living in Oslo are not involved in crime.

But some children end up in crime. And that they get the right follow-up is important, Dahl believes. She has a clear call for further work.

– Having investments that last over time and provide predictability is very important.