Simple Swedish Podcast - #217 - Gängvåld (gang violence)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Okay, hello there and welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast. Today I'm going to talk about a difficult subject. I'm going to talk about gang violence. Gang violence, violence related to criminal gangs. Because it is a topic that sometimes comes up in relation to Sweden. So I was going to talk about that today. First I will thank some new Patreons. They are Ekaterina, Burak, Hamda, Ray, Michelle, Alexi, and Alexi I mean, Fahed, Luisa, Nishal, and Kind.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Thank you for supporting the podcast. And everyone who supports the podcast gets a transcript for all episodes. Go to patreon.com slash Swedish Linguist if you are interested in that. A good resource, especially for such a subject that is a little more complicated. And you know that I also have a newsletter. att jag också har ett nyhetsbrev. Och det är alltid på lätt svenska. Så du lär dig nya ord, du övar på att läsa, du får tips på olika resurser. Ja, det är inte alls bara nyheter, utan det är mer andra saker faktiskt. Så jag försöker skriva om intressanta ämnen och ge lite tips på resurser. It's more different things actually. So I try to write about interesting topics and give some tips on resources. And also, when you register for the newsletter, you get a free PDF with the most common mistakes people make in Swedish. So go to my website, Swedishlinguist.com if you are interested in that news letter. Before we start, I want to explain a few words that will come up. The first word is violence. So violence is when you fight or murder or shoot or in English, violence. And yes, to shoot is what you do with a pistol, a weapon, bang bang, to shoot.

Starting point is 00:02:53 a weapon to shoot. A weapon you shoot with is a shooting weapon. A shooting is when several people, or one person, when someone or a few people shoot. So that is a shooting. And then we have an exposed area. And an exposed area is a bit like a ghetto, you could say. So it's an area that is exposed, where there is perhaps high unemployment, high poverty, more crime and so on. People have a little more difficult life. And then we have the word immigration. And immigration is that people come from other countries. Immigrant, one says. An immigrant is a person who comes to a country from another country, that is, one immigrates. So you could say that I am an immigrant in Spain. I actually don't know what the difference is between an immigrant and an expert. But it is an immigrant.

Starting point is 00:04:16 And then we have a refugee. A refugee is a person who is fleeing from, for example, war and other such events. So it is a refugee. And refugee reception is that one accepts refugees. So a big refugee reception means and the word refugee means that you receive a lot of refugees, for example. So, that was the words. Sometimes people talk about Sweden in very different ways. You get an image of Sweden that can be very different. So sometimes people see Sweden as a safe paradise where everyone is happy and everything works great. And it's like an ideal picture of a country. And sometimes you see a picture that is very, very in very big contrast to that picture.

Starting point is 00:05:27 There is a lot of violence, a lot of shootings and a lot of crime. So it's a picture that stands in quite a stark contrast to this first picture. So, I thought we would talk a little bit about that. So we're going to look at some statistics. Okay, so we're going to talk now about so-called deadly violence, violence that leads to someone dying, for example, murder, that is, that you kill someone, plan and kill someone. It's murder. Murderous violence can be all kinds of murderous violence. Since the 90s, murderous violence has been going down in all of Europe, including Sweden. So since the 90s it has gone down.

Starting point is 00:06:29 But in Sweden, the last ten years, deadly violence has gone up again. So that is a statistical fact. And what is the reason for this? a statistical fact and what does this have to do with it? Why is that? Okay, so we're going to look at some more statistics. So if you look at general deadly violence, there is not a very big difference between Sweden and other European countries. In Sweden we have for example 1.1 murders per 100 000 inhabitants, and in Denmark it is 0.9. Sweden 1.1, Denmark 0.9, so it's a bit higher in Sweden, but not a big difference. For example, if we take the number of people who have been victim to deadly violence. Between 2002 and 2010 there were about 90

Starting point is 00:07:50 people each year. But then, after 2015, there have been over 100 people each year and in 2022 it was 116. And it is about the same level as in the 90s. So it has gone up a bit, but still not a big difference. I mean 90 people, 100, 116, it goes up but not a big difference. But if we look at deadly violence with firearms and violence related to criminal gangs, that is gang-related violence, then we can actually see a pretty big difference. So, if we look at death cases because of firearms,

Starting point is 00:09:00 that is, that someone has shot another person to death, that someone has shot another person and that person has died. In Sweden, the number is 4 deaths per million inhabitants per year. 4 per million. In Europe, it is 1.6. So in Sweden, death toll with firearms is 4 per million. In Europe 1.6. So that is a pretty big difference. And if we look per year in Sweden, so in 2013, that is 11 years ago, 25 people died in shootings in Sweden was 63 people. So that is an increase of 250%. So it's a pretty strong increase, quite a big difference.

Starting point is 00:10:17 And this is one of the highest numbers in Europe. It's at about the same level as Bosnia or Montenegro. So this is very strongly linked to criminal gangs, especially in these exposed areas and especially especially among men between 15 and 29 years old. So almost the entire increase is linked to this specific group, criminal gangs, men 15 to 29 years old, in these exposed areas. And so it is actually the case that other types of deadly violence, that is, the deadly violence that is not related to firearms, criminal gangs and so on. That is also going down in Sweden. But the big problem is these criminal gangs.

Starting point is 00:11:35 So we can see that quite clearly. So why is it like this? What does this have to do with it? And it's not that easy to say. And it doesn't seem like there is research that can show clearly why Sweden is sticking out with this. So many people say that it is a big factor that Sweden has had a very big refugee response, especially refugees from outside Europe. So Sweden has received a lot of refugees from countries outside of Europe. And this is often people who have difficulty integrating into the Swedish society. Both because of culture, because of language, because of education. And yes, Sweden in general is not so easy to integrate into,

Starting point is 00:12:53 that is, the Swedish culture. All foreigners who live in Sweden, you may be one of them, you may have noticed that. But yes, so there are problems with integration and then there are of course problems if there are a lot of people because they often end up in the same area, in the same places. And if you have an area with a lot of people who come from other countries, and especially outside of Europe, you have a culture that is quite different, but it takes a long time to get into the Swedish society. It's hard to find a job. Many people have poor economy.

Starting point is 00:13:54 These areas are called exposed areas. If you grow up in an exposed area, your parents might have a bad economy, life might be tough. that many young people don't really feel that they are part of the Swedish society. Their identity is not really Swedish. They don't feel like Swedes in the same way as Swedes who grow up in a wild area. Swedes growing up in a wild area. Life might be tough, but if you join a gang, you can earn a lot of money, you can get a high status, etc. So many people, many boys, are involved in these criminal gangs. And it is of course 100% clear that these gangs are linked to these exposed areas. But what is not completely clear is how strong the connection is to Sweden taking in a lot of refugees. who also have a large number of immigrants who have taken in many refugees from countries outside of Europe and so on. For example Germany. But they don't have the problem that Sweden has.

Starting point is 00:16:02 For example, take the group of men 15 to 29 years old, that group where there is the biggest problem with shootings. In Sweden it is ten times more than Germany that is being shot in that age group. So it is obvious that that problem is much bigger in Sweden, even if Germany has similar demographics, similar size of refugees, historically and so on. So yes, absolutely, if I'm going to talk about what I myself think, then I think, of course, it is absolutely a factor that you take into account thousands of people from very different cultures, and it may be difficult with integration and the majority

Starting point is 00:17:06 ends up in exposed areas and in these areas there are criminal gangs and they recruit boys who are exposed. I think that is definitely a factor, but I don't think that is the whole truth. I also hope that Sweden can continue to be an open country where people from all over the world, where people can come and live and that at the same time we solve these problems. Because I am not especially pessimistic. I mean, I believe in people. I believe in people. If people have a problem, we solve it. Sometimes it I don't notice that it would be particularly unsafe. You mostly notice that in the news. And of course, if you live in an exposed area, I think you will notice that.

Starting point is 00:18:46 But I would still say that Sweden is generally a safe country. I know that many who have moved to Sweden and they have it well. And they like to live there. I got very dry in my throat now. I have been talking for too long. So I'm going to stop talking. Yes, it was not a very easy episode to make. I hope you have gained a little more insight. There are a lot of statistics for free on the crime prevention council's website, Brottsförebygganderådets hemsida, alltså Brå, så det är bra.se, bra.se. Där kan man hitta massa intressant statistik, om du gillar statistik. Tack för att du har lyssnat, så hörs vi nästa vecka. Ha det så gött!

Simple Swedish Podcast - #217 - Gängvåld (gang violence)

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