The early view that raising children was entirely the parents' responsibility shifted over the last 75 years to the current ideology on which the juvenile justice system rests. This ideology asserts that children under age 15 shall never be punished, but shall be cared for by the social welfare system. In addition, youths between ages 15 and 18 should receive criminal sanction only when no immediate need exists for care that the welfare system can offer. Moreover, institutionalization is avoided. Although juvenile crime has increased over the last several decades, available data support the common view that most delinquency is temporary and should be tolerated. However, agreement also exists that serious offenders require State intervention and coercion, because they risk becoming maladjusted adults. Under the Swedish juvenile justice system police and prosecutors have wide discretion in handling juvenile offenders and often only give youths warnings. The prosecutor also decides whether youths between ages 15 and 18 should be handled by the welfare system or the traditional criminal justice system. In determining sanctions, the authorities recognize both the need to make predictions of criminality in individual cases and the high rate of errors in such predictions. 5 data tables and 4 notes.