STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden will lower the age of criminal responsibility from the current 15, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday, following an increase in cases of criminal gangs recruiting children via social media and using them as hitmen.

The number of under-15s suspected of murder, aiding and abetting murder or attempted murder was 93 in the first six months of 2024, according to the latest official data, up three times from the same period a year earlier.

A government-appointed investigator recommended this year that the age of criminal responsibility be lowered to 14 in cases of particularly serious crime, but Kristersson did not say whether his government would follow that recommendation.

“Children are being ruthlessly exploited by criminal networks to commit serious

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