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The police fear spirals of violence among youth

Domestic abuse, neglect, and who young people associate with are key drivers of whether they commit serious violent crimes.

Police officers talk to several people outside a lit building in Oslo at night
In parts of the Oslo area and a number of other places, there are serious conflicts between criminal gangs that occasionally escalate.
Jorunn Kanestrøm COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER
Presented by: Presented by: University of Oslo
Published

We hear about criminal networks operating across national borders, serious youth violence in cities and local communities, and contract killings carried out by children. 

A small group of Norwegian children and young people are recruited into serious crime and violent assignments via digital platforms.

In parts of the Oslo area and several other locations in Norway, there are serious conflicts between criminal gangs that occasionally escalate. 

Firearms, knives, and machetes are frequently brandished, and a few young people use them to threaten, harm, and kill. 

Drugs change hands and are traded, while the ringleaders lurk in the shadows.

Violence breeds violence – and fear

Groruddalen and Oslo are marked by an increase in serious and brutal violent incidents among young people, even though the total number of police reports involving youth fell slightly in 2025. 

The violence often involves those under 18, and the Alna district is among the areas in the east with the highest priority for the police.

The Haugerud conflict is causing significant concern. 

It is a serious, ongoing conflict between criminal youth environments in Haugerud and Furuset, marked by violent episodes, stabbings, and weapon seizures. 

Territorial conflicts are not uncommon

The conflict involves increasingly younger individuals, including children under 15. It has led to considerable fear in the local community, and the police are investigating the cases with high priority.

Neighbourhood police in the Oslo Police District, East Unit, work closely with criminal gangs and networks of Norwegian children and youth operating locally.

Territorial conflicts between them are not uncommon, and the fear of spirals of violence is not without reason, emphasises Olav Verpe.

He is a section leader in the neighbourhood police.

Portrait photo of man
“Whether it will get worse or not is difficult to predict. But this is something the police prioritise," says Olav Verpe.

… but Oslo is a safe city, according to the police

Verpe nevertheless maintains that Oslo is a safe city. Most children and young people who grow up in Oslo do not commit crimes, but some districts are more affected than others. 

In Oslo, the neighbourhood police work according to a method called ‘efforts in prioritised areas.’

“We have selected certain districts and smaller areas that face greater challenges with youth crime than elsewhere,” says Verpe.

Here, residents report experiencing more insecurity and lower trust in the police than in other areas and the rest of the city.

The number of children and young people who commit crimes is low

Several of these areas also have visible and active criminal networks and youth environments that commit very serious crimes.

These range from major drug offences to violent crimes, shootings, and stabbings.

Heidi Mork Lomell is a professor at the University of Oslo's Department of Criminology and Sociology. 

She has studied crime statistics and has a good overview of crime trends in Norway. 

Lomell confirms that the number of children and young people who commit serious and repeated crime is low, even though the figures are serious and the number of unreported cases is unclear.

A serious matter when children are recruited

In 2024, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security appointed an expert group to assess measures for children who commit repeated or serious crime. 

They delivered the report ‘They are our children – on keeping a cool head and a warm heart’ in March 2025. It emphasises that relatively few children in Norway are in conflict with the law.

Portrait photo of woman
“Calculations made by Statistics Norway show that the figures give a distorted picture of children under 15 who commit repeated and serious crimes,” says Professor Heidi Mork Lomell.

Based on criteria that take into account repetition and severity, the expert group estimated that in 2023 there were approximately 800 children above and below the age of 15 who were charged with repeated or serious crime. 

According to figures from Statistics Norway, 117 of these children were each charged with at least 10 offences.

A slight increase in serious violent offences

Furthermore, there was a significant increase among children under 15 in the years from 2015 to 2023.

Not only for minor offences, but also for serious crimes such as aggravated violence and robbery.

For the 15 to 17 age group, a similar increase is not seen. According to the report, registered crime has been fairly stable in the period from 2015 to 2023 and remains at a historically low level.

However, there has been a small increase in serious violent offences.

Lomell notes, however, that we need to be careful when comparing crime trends for those under and over 15 using crime statistics.

This is because crimes are registered very differently for these two groups.

"Calculations made by Statistics Norway show that the figures give a distorted picture of children under 15 who commit repeated and serious crimes," she says.

New figures for Oslo

Annual statistics from the Oslo Police District show that the number of general reports with young suspects fell by 5 per cent in 2025. 

Just over 3,000 reports with suspects in this age group were registered in 2025.

The latest figures from Oslo also show a 15 per cent decrease in registered violent offences in the youngest age group, 10 to 17-year-olds, from 2024 to 2025.

“If we compare the 2025 figures with those from before the pandemic, in 2018–2019, the numbers are still higher. There has been an increase here over the last few decades, but a decrease from 2024 to 2025,” Lomell explains.

Despite the decline, there were several very serious incidents committed by young perpetrators last year.

Violence as a commodity

The grenade explosion in Pilestredet in September 2025 marks a turning point in Norway. 

The police link the incident to a targeted criminal confrontation involving two 13-year-olds and the Swedish Foxtrot network.

This incident is an example of a trend in many countries where criminal environments succeed in influencing children and youth to commit serious crimes.

Violence as a commodity, where young people are recruited via digital platforms to commit acts of violence, is a development the police and their partners are monitoring very closely, says Verpe.

Cooperation and joint efforts work

In recent years, municipalities, the government, and the police have initiated several new measures to prevent and combat youth crime. 

These figures suggest that cooperation and joint efforts are working, states Police Chief Ida Melbo Øystese on the police website.

“At the same time, we have had several incidents related to violence as a commodity where young people are recruited into crime via encrypted apps. Despite the decrease in reports, the level is still too high. We must continue our targeted work against youth crime,” she emphasises.

They are our children – but who are they?

Upbringing, family background, previous behavioural problems, and family income all play a role in who is recruited into serious crime and violence. 

Most are boys, and several struggle with substance abuse and problems at school. Domestic abuse is also a risk factor.

According to the Oslo Police District's 2023 report and other studies, immigrant youth are overrepresented. 

At the same time, Lomell points out that it's not the case that all immigrant groups appear in these statistics.

When asked whether we can expect an escalation of serious youth violence in Oslo East, or whether the police have control, Verpe reflects before answering.

“Whether it will get worse or not is difficult to predict. But this is something the police prioritise. We work actively with uniformed and plain-clothes personnel in areas where insecurity is high,” he says.

Listen to the Norwegian podcast episode below:

References:

Norwegian government: De er våre barn – om å holde hodet kaldt og hjertet varmt (They are our children – on keeping a cool head and a warm heart), 2025.

NRK Rogaland: 30 prosent nedgang i ungdomskriminalitet (30 per cent decline in youth crime), 2026.

Politiet: Året 2025: Felles innsats gir nedgang i ungdomskriminaliteten (2025: Joint efforts lead to a decline in youth crime), 2026.

Statistics Norway: Offences investigated, 2025. 

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