• Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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    2 months ago

    This is a gang war between rivaling drug gangs. Sweden has a serious gang problem and also the highest rate of drug deaths in all of Europe. Something needs to be done.

    There have been some good progress recently in resolving murder cases, (which is the most effective way to reduce gang killings), but unfortunately most of the political effort in this area has been to increase jail times and blame immigrants. There are also concerns that the new legal system reforms weaken civil rights protections beyond their gang-combatting purpose. The association by politicians and voters of reducing immigration with combating gangs is inaccurate and unfortunate, as while most of the foot soldiers have immigrant parents, they are often still Swedish citizens, just from a poor, segregated neighborhood. There is not much public discourse on whether the capos and leaders are immigrant, Muslim, etc.

    Sweden is very much still clinging to a imagined victory in the war on drugs. In Sweden, having drugs in the bloodstream is punishable with prison, and all Swedish parties in parliament are strictly against drug legalization. In line with solidarity culture, drug users are blamed for financially supporting gang violence.