Inside Stockholm’s fight to keep children out of gangs  – POLITICO

STOCKHOLM — At first glance, Fryshuset in Stockholm looks like any ordinary school. A group of girls sit together during recess, laughing, while the rhythmic bounce of a basketball echoes from the gym next door. Only the social workers and monitors discreetly making their rounds hint that something else is happening inside.

The sprawling building is at once a school, a social hub and a drop-in center for young people at risk of being drawn into crime.

That mission has become increasingly urgent in Sweden, where gang violence has spread and teenagers are being recruited into organized crime at ever-younger ages. Stockholm, one of the cities hardest hit by the violence, has invested millions in prevention programs aimed at stopping children from joining gangs in the first place.