– It is often about young men who feel that they have to take revenge, preserve their status position, not to show themselves weak, that you have the capacity to stand up and defend your name, says Torbjörn Forkby, who has researched how gangs develop and function.
There are many explanations for the rise of gangs in Sweden, he emphasizes – basically it’s about society changing in a polarizing direction. Sweden’s 63 fatal shootings last year and the general trend over a decade stand out in a European context with an excess of mortality in the 20-29 age group linked to firearm violence.
– This is about the emergence of quite a few new organizations, which are quite immature and do not learn how to deal with conflicts in a constructive way, says Forkby in SVT’s Morgonstudion.
Mediation a solution forward
He compares it to the conflicts that existed between biker gangs in the 90s.
– We don’t see that kind of unpremeditated acts of violence in that environment at all. Those organizations may have found more constructive ways to resolve conflicts, which on the other hand may have made them even stronger even if they don’t have that attention.
Prosecution – ensuring that it is not possible to get away with crime is priority one, he says. But other efforts should also be considered.
– One can ask whether other types of efforts should be used, to find a way to get the gangs to mediate in the conflict instead of resolving them with violence, that is a method used in other countries, says Torbjörn Forkby.
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