The 16-year-old boy has been charged with a number of criminal offences: including attempted murder, threats, grievous bodily harm, violence against the police and breach of a restraining order. The attempted murder took place in February. Then the 16-year-old was involved in a stabbing in Greenland in Oslo where a man in his late teens was seriously injured. The boy was then detained for one week. But four months later he was again involved in a very serious incident. The police gathered at the crime scene in Greenland on 6 February this year after a stabbing. The now 16-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder following the incident. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Protecting society and the boy himself In mid-June, the 16-year-old helped stab a man in his 20s during a fight in Greenland, according to the charge. For this he is charged with grievous bodily harm. The boy’s defender, Hilde Marie Ims, informs news that the boy does not acknowledge any of the points in the comprehensive charge. The police now feared that the boy would commit crime again if he did not remain in custody. – It is not only necessary for society, but also for him. To prevent him from committing new crimes, says police attorney Hanna Kaplon. Police attorney Hanna Kaplon says it is necessary to remand the 16-year-old because he has committed repeated crimes. Photo: Nadir Alam / news Children in prison with adults – We see that it is necessary in more and more cases that we remand children, says the police attorney. But when the police wanted to do just this at the beginning of August, the Oslo District Court said no. Both parties agreed that the risk of the teenage boy committing new offenses was high. But there were no available prison places for children and young people. Therefore, the district court wanted to release the 16-year-old, in exchange for him being required to report. The court did not want the boy to sit in custody with other, adult criminals. They believed that it would be a great burden for the boy. Then the police put their foot down, and appealed the case to the Court of Appeal. – Unfortunate practice Hilde Marie Ims, who is defending the boy, thinks it is unfortunate that places in adult prisons are used to imprison children. – And it’s not just for days, but there are examples where children have sat for a long time with adults. It is a very unfortunate practice that should be stopped. Ims calls for other measures for children and young people. She does not want to say what could have been done for this boy specifically, but for children in general: – The preventive units in the police lack resources. It may be that the child welfare services have not done what is required of vulnerable young people. Furthermore, there may be various measures, such as mandatory reporting, which could have been used. Hilde Marie Ims has over the years represented several children who have had to sit in prison, for short and long periods. Photo: André Bendixen / news Only ten youth places for the whole country – The police do not want to keep children in adult prison, but with the crime scene we see now, it is sometimes necessary, says police attorney Kaplon. The threshold for placing children in custody is very high. It must be so-called “absolutely necessary”. – We have ten remand places that will cover the whole of Norway. We feel that this is not sufficient. The problem is not new. As news wrote earlier this summer, remand prisoners are released due to lack of space. It has happened several times that repeat offenders under the age of 18 are released from custody because there is a lack of prison places for young people. This can have serious consequences. – The investigation can be spoiled, or the risk of new crime is so high that we are unable to carry out our social mission, says Kaplon. If a child needs to be detained first, then youth detention is the best option. They are arranged in a completely different way to prison for adults. – It is about the number of employees at work, access to health care, schools, psychologists and environmental workers. Must be in prison, as previously mentioned the police appealed the case to the Court of Appeal. There they were successful. The Court of Appeal agreed that the boy could be detained together with adult criminals. The ruling states: “The criminal acts of which there is a risk that the accused will be guilty are so serious that the Court of Appeal believes that this consideration must be given great weight in this case”. But at the last minute changes were made. A place was nevertheless found for the 16-year-old in Eidsberg adult prison. Now he has been transferred there. He will be there at least until 15 August. A man in his late teens suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries after the fight and stabbing in February. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Published 08.08.2024, at 06.28
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The court wanted to release the 16-year-old accused of murder – Greater Oslo
