Their imagination had run quite wild.
In other words, these areas end up in a spiral of violence and destruction, leading to an exodus of people - native Swedes as well as well-integrated migrants - who are fed up with the violence. The ones who remain are either those who cause the problems or those who can not afford to move for whatever reason.
Would I let my children go to school in Sjumilaskolan? Not if I could avoid it. But I also don't worry that my grandma will be harassed by the youths or the niqab ladies. Because she hasn't been.
The failure in these areas is obviously a huge problem and the state has fallen short in dealing with the issues. Hopefully the court system will take the hint and start helping the police but that's for the future to tell...
But I also remember the same kind of areas from 20-30 years ago. Where the social services put the drug addicts and alcoholics, where several cars would randomly get trashed because someone had a party, where the local nazi gang would show up to beat up an immigrant because of some rumor etc. These areas are not a new problem. I guess the big difference is they've gone from knives to guns. These are the areas where the most vulnerable in society live and everyone who can leave.