An average of five rapes per day occurs in the Swedish capital, while only 5 percent of reported rapes result in a perpetrator being sentenced, a development local politicians have described as “unacceptable”.
Axar.az reports citing foreign media that during the first half of 2019, Stockholm has seen a total of 1,060 rapes. Compared with 890 rapes in the same period last year, this marks a drastic 20 percent increase.
In addition, 24 so-called “negligent rapes” were reported during the first half of the year. This is a recent addition to Sweden's criminal code that appeared after a so-called “consent act” was introduced on 1 July 2018.
According to the news outlet Mitt i, Stockholm sees an average of five rapes a day, many of them making attention-grabbing headlines, such as the group rape in Hässelby.
The situation is so bad that the Södersjukhuset hospital had to set up a special emergency department for raped women. About 800 victims are treated each year there.
The region's financial council Irene Svenonoius of the liberal-conservative Moderate Party has called this development unacceptable.
“I look extremely seriously at all the rapes. The increase is alarming”, Svenonius told Mitt i. “We know that the number of rape victims is significantly higher”, she added, calling for “strong and concerted efforts” to solve the problem.