Photo by Amir Mortezaie on Unsplash
What actually works when tackling youth crime in the Nordic region? At HEUNI’s seminar on 3 October 2025 in Hanaholmen-Hanasaari, experts from across the Nordics and Estonia compared experiences and identified promising pathways. Key insights included:
1. Strengthening Nordic collaboration
All Nordic countries face concerns related to youth criminality, yet systematic collaboration remains limited. We need shared data monitoring, cross-border learning, and co-development of evidence-based best practices among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
2. A more accurate narrative of youth crime
Public discussions conflate different crime types, reinforcing misleading images of youth. Distinguishing between low-level offences, serious youth violence, and organised group dynamics is essential to shape proportionate criminal policy responses.
3. Most young people do not commit crime
The vast majority of youth in the Nordics are not involved in criminality. Those responsible for the most serious repeat offences are few in number and often well-known to authorities long before they become involved with the criminal justice system.
4. Trends and policy debates
Speakers examined recruitment of minors into criminal networks, the effects of lowering the age of criminal responsibility, and increasingly punitive policy turns. Evidence from Denmark shows that reducing the age of criminal responsibility can have unintended negative consequences.
5. The importance of group dynamics
Youth behaviour is shaped strongly by peers. Decision-making becomes riskier in group settings, yet many interventions target individuals alone. Effective measures must address social identity, peer influence, and group belonging.
6. Recognising the victim–offender overlap
Adverse childhood experiences increase the likelihood of both victimisation and offending. Systems must better acknowledge this overlap, identify forced criminality, and ensure that exploited children are protected while authorities target those directing criminal activity.
7. Engaging young people in solutions
A clear message from youth representatives was “talk with us, not about us.” Adolescents must be involved in designing prevention and intervention strategies that align with their developmental needs and lived realities.
8. Social policy as crime prevention
Reducing inequality, supporting schools, and tackling truancy, especially in disadvantaged areas, remain foundational. Social policies that foster safety, inclusion, and opportunity are vital.
9. Swift and coordinated responses
Deterrence is driven not by severity but by certainty and swiftness. Serious cases require coordinated multi-agency action that identifies critical windows of opportunity. Prevention and intervention should combine restorative practices with targeted support.
10. Community-driven and specialised approaches
Local actors such as community police, NGOs, and outreach workers hold essential contextual knowledge and should be strengthened. Specialised police units working closely with social services were highlighted as effective, particularly when emphasising responsibility, relationship-building, and paired supportive measures.
Youth-friendly justice models are possible
Estonia’s reforms offer a promising example: integrated, people-centred systems designed to avoid children’s entry into the criminal justice system and to use custody only as a last resort. Results include reduced youth violence and near-zero juvenile imprisonment. Whereas many of the Nordics have looked at each other when developing our criminal policies, perhaps we should now look toward Estonia?
About the authors:
Julia Korkman is a Senior Programme Officer at HEUNI and Professor of Practice in Legal Psychology at Åbo Akademi University. Her work focuses on evidence-based criminal justice, with expertise in investigative interviewing, decision-making, and memory in legal contexts. She leads projects on assessing evidence, victims’ rights, children in the legal system, virtual justice, and improving justice systems.
Kyle Ott is an international crime prevention advisor and works as a consultant for HEUNI. His work focuses on youth criminality, domestic violence, gang/gun violence, and organized crime. He holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree with specialisations in policy analysis and the economics of crime.
Photos: HEUNI