The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs is reviewing the Office of the Auditor General's investigation into how authorities have prevented and handled youth crime from 2019 to 2024. The auditors conclude that efforts lack continuity, flexibility, and coordination, that the time from offense to sentence enforcement is too long, and that placing minors in adult prisons violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The committee agrees with these findings and recommends that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Children and Families implement comprehensive measures to improve coordination and performance.
AI-generated summary · Model: Claude Haiku 4.5 · Generated: 14 May 2026
These are the proposals in the document, not decisions. See the votes for the outcome.
Strengthen coordination between relevant services across sectors and administrative levels, for example through the Core Group for Vulnerable Children and Young People (KUBU) or other means
Ensure that young people serving sentences through mediation boards and in the criminal justice system have sufficient access to programs tailored to their needs
Improve cross-sector cooperation between state and municipal actors to enable smooth transitions when children leave child welfare institutions or are released from prison
Improve coordination and information-sharing between police and municipal child welfare services
Ensure that police prioritize crime prevention work and make greater use of preventive measures targeting children and young people
Make the criminal justice process for youth more efficient, so the time from offense to start of sentence is minimized
Expand access to mediation through conflict resolution boards for more children and young people
Take steps to prevent minors from being placed in adult prisons unless doing so serves the child's best interests
Evaluate the results of changes to the Conflict Resolution Act, Penal Code, and Criminal Procedure Act that took effect in the second half of 2024
Ensure that municipalities fulfill their responsibility for prevention work with vulnerable children and young people across sectors, for example through professional guidance and sharing of best practices
Ensure that municipalities clarify what prevention and early intervention mean for child welfare services and other welfare agencies
Ensure that the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (Bufetat) has adequate institutional capacity for children and young people who commit or are at risk of committing offenses, within the scope of child welfare services