No, ”the stick” IS rehab, schooling, counseling etc. Or it should be. Prisons in Sweden are rehabilitation oriented, but putting hardened criminals together with kids is not the right approach.

Many of these kids have been groomed and then hooked on drugs like Tramadol, so that a small reward like a nice e-scooter, designer shoes or money has overrun their already lacking sense of consequences.

We have had kids who got sent into substandard rehab facilities and got murdered for refusing to commit murders. So before the law change sends more kids into limbo, we desperately need to have solutions for rehab in place. Which we lack.