THE AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY : A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF A NEW POLICY REFORM IN SWEDEN

Sammanfattning

Despite existing studies on the age of criminal responsibility, a gap remains in the literature regarding how children are constructed in policy reform. Using a qualitative critical discourse analysis, this study examines the debates surrounding the recent Swedish policy reform Age of Criminal Responsibility (SOU 2025: 11). The study investigate how children’s capacity for responsibility is constructed within the policy reform, which argument are used to justify the proposed extension of criminal responsibility, and how consideration of child protection are balanced against concern for public safety. Using the policy document as an empirical material, the findings demonstrate that children are simultaneously constructed as rational and accountable actors capable of understand and participating in criminal behavior, while also being framed as vulnerable individuals in need of protection. The findings also demonstrate that the reform placed emphasis on the increasing criminal behaviors among children, societal insecurity, and the need for stronger state intervention in regulating children’s crime. The findings further reveal that children are constructed in adult- like manner, through how agency is stronger attach to them, as capable of engaging in criminal behavior without coercion, but at the same time as actors groomed and exploited by criminal organization for criminal services. The findings also reveal a tension between Sweden’s traditional welfare-oriented justice approach and an increasing shift towrds focus on stricter crime control and risk management. In conclusion, this study contributes to discussion about children, and responsibility by showing how different views of children is being problematized in the policy reform.