Sweden does not have juvenile courts; youth 15 years of age and older are tried in the same criminal justice system as other offenders. Yet, Sweden formally recognizes that youthfulness mitigates criminal responsibility and therefore provides shorter sentences for young offenders because of their reduced culpability. Despite Sweden's attempts to separate welfare from criminal social control for young offenders, a youth's crime and recidivism are closely linked to compulsory treatment in the welfare system. Sweden's welfare and criminal justice systems appear to differ significantly from juvenile courts in the United States, but compulsory provisions of the Swedish welfare system operate in a remarkably similar fashion. Recent legislative reforms in Sweden acknowledge that a welfare ideology masks the connection between offense and sanction and propose that coercive sanctions be applied only by criminal courts. 42 references, 16 footnotes, and 2 tables