Reactions of the Legal System to Increasing Crime (From Brottsutvecklingen - Lagesrapport 1979, P 93-103, 1980, by Rolf Dahlstrom - See NCJ-80619)

• NCJ Number: 80620
• Author(s): E Kuhlhorn
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 11 pages
• Corporate Author: National Council for Crime Prevention
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; Liber Distribution Foerlagsorder
• Country: Sweden

Annotation

The reaction of the Swedish criminal justice system to the increase in crime from the mid-1960's to the late 1970's is examined in terms of severity of sentences, police clearance rates, and police and corrections resource allocation.

Abstract

Since the middle of the 1960's, the crime rate has been on a generally steady increase in Sweden. One would expect to find, then, an increase in the use of more severe sentences (imprisonment and supervision) for repeat offenders, an increase in resources to police and corrections, and a correspondingly higher police clearance rate for the years from 1965 to 1979. This is not so. In fact, the use of harsher penalities has remained about the same since 1968, while the use of milder sentences such as voluntary parole have doubled or tripled. Likewise, the percentage of crimes resulting in arrest has remained virtually stable since 1968. Figures also show that most offenders are repeat offenders, meaning that as years go by and the clearance rate remains stable but the crime rate climbs, when an offender is apprehended and sentenced, the criminal justice system is dealing with a more hardened criminal repeat offender. The result is a more expensive offender to treat (if the logic that the number of past offenses should result in a stiffer sentence) and, hence, a greater drain on the corrections system. That is, fewer offenders can be treated for the same price. The heavy use of milder and less expensive sanctions show the system's decision to spread their resources further by decreased used of imprisonment and harsher sentences. Another problem is deterrence. The lowered police capacity to clear offenses and thus deter by the threat of being caught is probably the result of resources being spent on the more serious and often more resource-demanding crimes. In addition, social trends, such as fewer people at home during the day and less close knit neighborhoods, have diminished social controls that had acted as deterrents. The final result for a society which can no longer hold such tight reins over its members is a more permissible attitude toward the lower fringe of behaviors that were considered deviant and meriting punishment. A few tables and graphs are included.