Sweden abandons plan to lower age of criminal responsibility to 13 years old

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's right of center government will drop its controversial plan to cut the age of criminal responsibility to 13-years-old from the current 15-years-old, it said on Thursday.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said there was not enough support in parliament for the measure and that the government instead would introduce new legislation that will set a lower limit of 14-years-old.

"We are going to propose that the age of criminal responsibility should be cut to 14 instead of 13-years-old," Strommer told reporters.

Sweden has seen a surge in gang crime over the last twenty years with the number of shootings now among the highest in Europe.

The government has overhauled the criminal justice system, giving the police more power and introducing tougher sentences, but has struggled stop gangs recruiting ever younger children to carry out violent crimes.

More than 50 children under 15 faced court last year suspected of murder or attempted murder, Strommer said.

Until now, children who commit violent crimes have been put into youth homes, but that system is widely seen as having failed.

The government had planned to lock up children as young as 13 in special prison units.

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that the age of criminal responsibility should be 14 at the lowest, which is the average across the European Union.

-Reporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Terje Solsvik/Reuters