The statistics of processed offences linked to a suspect are based on offences and suspects registered and processed by Swedish Police, Swedish Customs and Swedish Prosecution Authority. A processed offence refers to an offence were a decision has been made which entails that the processing of the offence was completed. Offences with person-based clearances are processed offences where a conviction decision (a decision to indict, issue a summary sanction order, or waive prosecution) has been made.
The statistics give an overview of the number of processed offences linked to a suspect and are presented by type of offence, type of decision and sex and age of the suspected person. The statistics do not include processed offences linked to suspects under the age of criminal responsibility (15 years).
The statistics of processed offences linked to a suspect are new from 2016, but it is available annually from 2007.
During 2023, 544,239 offences linked to a suspect were processed, which is an increase of 4,977 (+1 %) in comparison with 2022. Since 2014, the number of processed offences linked to a suspect has increased by approximately 3 per cent. The most common crime category among the processed offences linked to a suspect in 2023, was Crimes against person, which constituted 26 per cent of the total. Other common offences were Crimes against the Narcotics Drugs Act (20 %), Theft and Robbery (10 %) and Crimes against the Road Traffic Offences Act (9 %).
The number of processed offences linked to a suspect that resulted in a person-based clearance (a decision to indict, issue a summary sanction order, or waive prosecution) in 2023 was 195,202 (36 %), which constitutes an increase of 2,374 (+1 %) compared to 2022. Since 2014, the number has decreased by 17 per cent. The proportion of person-based clearances is unaltered since 2022, and has decreased by 9 percentage point compared to 2014. The rest of the offences linked to a suspect have been subject either to an investigation limitation decision (14 %) or other types of decisions (50 %). The proportion of the offences linked to a suspect which was subject to investigation limitation decisions has increased since 2014, with 6 percentage point.
The majority (433,000 or 80 per cent) of the processed offences in 2023 were linked to a male suspect; this is a pattern which has been stable for the past ten years. Of the processed offences linked to a male suspect, 36 per cent has been processed with a person-based clearance; this proportion is unaltered since 2022. Of the processed offences linked to a female suspect, 35 per cent were processed with person-based clearances, which has increased by 1 percentage point since 2022.
Of the processed offences, 90,498 were linked to a suspect aged 15 to 20 years, which constitutes 17 per cent of all the processed offences linked to a suspect. The rest of the offences (452,561 or 83 per cent) were linked to persons aged 21 and over. About two out of five (38 %) of the offences linked to persons aged 15 to 20 years, were processed with person-based clearance in 2023. The corresponding proportion of person-based clearances for offenses linked to persons aged 21 and over was 35 per cent. The proportions have decreased over time, with 8 respective 9 percentage points compared to 2014.