Ideology of Crime Control in Scandinavia: Current Trends (From Selected Issues in Criminal Justice, 1985, P 66-77, Helsinki Institute for Crime Prevention and Control -see NCJ-133290)

• NCJ Number: 133295
• Author(s): I Anttila
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; United Nations European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI)
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Finland

Annotation

Over the past decade, there has been a movement in the Scandinavian countries to create new penal codes or to make major reforms in existing ones.

Abstract

There are several main principles of this new ideology. The first is a lack of confidence in the ability of the criminal justice system to eliminate criminality. The second is the abolition of indeterminate incarceration of offenders because of a belief that rehabilitation does not work. In addition, the coercive treatment ideology has been abandoned except for special groups of offenders including drug addicts. Another principle is the idea that punishments have a general preventive effect through deterrence and through the maintenance of moral standards. The Scandinavian countries contend that if the goal of the crime control system is general prevention, the system of sanctions should be clear and uncomplicated. This ideology is reflected in the attitude toward imprisonment and prison administration; prison conditions should be improved for both humanitarian and justice-related reasons. There has been a trend toward decriminalization in Scandinavia as in many other European countries. The Scandinavian crime control policy is future- oriented and based on a prevention-oriented rationality.