New coercive measures to investigate crimes by children under 15
What's at stake: The decision affects how long, and on what grounds, children under 15, who are below the age of criminal responsibility, can be detained and examined by police when suspected of serious crime. It concerns the balance between effective crime investigation and protecting children's legal safeguards and integrity.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The question is whether parliament should adopt the government's bill expanding coercive measures against children under 15, including a longer detention time for body examinations and new powers to collect biometric data, or whether the bill should be rejected in the parts considered too intrusive toward children.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee agrees on the need for more effective tools to investigate crimes children under 15 are suspected of, given that serious crime linked to criminal networks is reaching younger ages, and endorses the government's bill, including extending the permissible detention time for body examinations from three to six hours when there are exceptional grounds.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (MP)
The reservation (MP) welcomes several parts of the bill, such as an expanded right to legal counsel, but opposes the extended detention time for body examinations, the power to collect biometric data from children under 15, and the coercive measure for detaining a group for identification, arguing that authorities should instead review resources and organisation so that children do not bear the cost of the authorities' shortcomings.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: adopting the government's legislative proposal and rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by MP.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Yes 21/0/0/0
S
–
Yes 106/0/0/0
MPown reservation
–
No 0/18/0/0
C
–
Yes 23/0/0/1
L
–
Yes 16/0/0/0
KD
–
Yes 19/0/0/0
M
–
Yes 66/0/0/0
SD
–
Yes 70/0/0/0
Committee proposal
The Riksdag adopts the Government's proposal for
1. a bill on amending the Code of Procedure,
2. a bill on amending the Act (1964:167) with special provisions on young offenders,
3. a bill on amending the Act (2025:862) on amending the Act (1964:167) with special provisions on young offenders,
4. a bill on amending the Act (1964:167) with special provisions on young offenders,
5. a bill on amending the Act (2007:979) on measures to prevent certain particularly serious crimes,
6. a bill on amending the Act (2007:979) on measures to prevent certain particularly serious crimes,
7. a bill on amending the Act (2018:1693) on the police's processing of personal data within the criminal data act,
8. a bill on amending the Act (2020:62) on secret data interception,
9. a bill on amending the customs authority act (2024:710),
10. a bill on amending the Act (2024:782) on the procedure for forfeiture of property and imposition of corporate penalty.
Thereby the Riksdag grants proposition 2025/26:227 points 1-10 and rejects motion
2025/26:4074 by Ulrika Westerlund et al. (MP) requests 1 and 3-5.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen antar regeringens förslag till
1. lag om ändring i rättegångsbalken,
2. lag om ändring i lagen (1964:167) med särskilda bestämmelser om unga lagöverträdare,
3. lag om ändring i lagen (2025:862) om ändring i lagen (1964:167) med särskilda bestämmelser om unga lagöverträdare,
4. lag om ändring i lagen (1964:167) med särskilda bestämmelser om unga lagöverträdare,
5. lag om ändring i lagen (2007:979) om åtgärder för att förhindra vissa särskilt allvarliga brott,
6. lag om ändring i lagen (2007:979) om åtgärder för att förhindra vissa särskilt allvarliga brott,
7. lag om ändring i lagen (2018:1693) om polisens behandling av personuppgifter inom brottsdatalagens område,
8. lag om ändring i lagen (2020:62) om hemlig dataavläsning,
9. lag om ändring i tullbefogenhetslagen (2024:710),
10. lag om ändring i lagen (2024:782) om förfarandet vid förverkande av egendom och åläggande av företagsbot.
Därmed bifaller riksdagen proposition 2025/26:227 punkterna 1-10 och avslår motion
2025/26:4074 av Ulrika Westerlund m.fl. (MP) yrkandena 1 och 3-5.
Riksdag decision: The crime-fighting authorities shall have better opportunities to use coercive measures against children under 15 years of age. The Riksdag voted yes to the Government's proposal to introduce more effective tools for investigating crimes that children below the age of criminal responsibility are suspected of.
This involves, among other things, that
more coercive measures become permitted against children under 15 years of age
the coercive measures seizure, house search and body search may be used against children under 15 years of age in more cases
so-called biometric records may be taken from children under 15 years of age to a greater extent.
The legislative changes also mean that a coercive measure is introduced to detain a group of persons at a crime scene for identification. A special regulation is also introduced for the use of coercive measures in a pre-trial investigation that is reopened to investigate whether there is grounds for reconsideration.
The legislative changes come into force on 1 July 2026.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants to maintain strict legal protection standards for actions concerning children in criminal investigations. (MP) — Reservation 1
Motion 2025/26:4073 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:227 Bättre möjligheter att utreda brott av unga lagöverträdare och några andra processrättsliga frågor av Gudrun Nordborg m.fl. (V)
Motion 2025/26:4074 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:227 Bättre möjligheter att utreda brott av unga lagöverträdare och några andra processrättsliga frågor av Ulrika Westerlund m.fl. (MP)
Proposition 2025/26:227 — Bättre möjligheter att utreda brott av unga lagöverträdare och några andra processrättsliga frågor