Oslo has long been viewed as a safe city, but police are now reporting far more juvenile crime that’s become more violent. Crimes reported to police are up 18 percent since the pandemic ended.
Crime fell during the pandemic but it’s been rising steadily since, especially among the young. Newspaper Aftenposten reports that 1,744 incidents reported during the first half of 2023 involved defendants between 10 and 17 years old. Several are repeat offenders who police worry can be capable of extreme violence or murder.
Gangs are behind some of it, along with organized crime that recruits youth because they can’t be jailed in Norway if they’re under the age of 18. They only get professional supervision or help if they commit serious crime and then can be held in youth detention centers.
There’s also been a rash of stabbings in Oslo lately, while police in Kristiansand have reported aggravated violence carried out by girls as young as 13. It’s apparently become popular to beat and kick random victims while others film the attacks and spread it on social media.
There were also several reports of violence at the recent Norway Cup football tournament in Oslo, but not carried out by participants. Organizers complained, however, of what they called “bad behaviour” among some of the teenage boys against girls’ teams and simply in cafeterias, where they refused to clear their tables or spoke demeaningly to others. “We wonder where such behaviour comes from,” Pål Trælvik, secretary general of Norway Cup, told Aftenposten, when commenting on the lack of respect for elders and one another. “There must be some parents who haven’t done their job.”
NewsinEnglish.no staff
