Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess: Part II: Does Scandinavian Exceptionalism Have a Future?

• NCJ Number: 223079
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 48 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 275-292
• Author(s): John Pratt
• Date Published: May 2008
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: See NCJ-222055 for Part I

Annotation

This second part of a two-part paper on Scandinavian countries' (Finland, Norway, and Sweden) exception to the current trend in high imprisonment rates in other countries discusses prospects for this Scandinavian "exceptionalism" to continue.

Abstract

Part I of this paper examines how the Scandinavian cultures of equality and welfare-state security have provided the foundations for the development of low imprisonment rates and humanitarian prison conditions. Recently, however, prison rates have increased from a very low base. In Finland, prison populations increased from 50 per 100,000 of population in 1998 to 68 per 100,000 population in 2007. Over the same period the imprisonment rate increased from 57 to 66 in Norway and from 60 to 82 in Sweden. This trend is not apparently related to crime patterns. After crime increased from 1950 to 1990, crime levels and crime rates have either stabilized or declined. Prison population increases are apparently linked to increases in the severity of sanctions. Time served for life sentences in Finland has increased from 11 to 14 years since 1998. Proportionately more prison sentences have been imposed, from 11.1 percent of all dispositions to 12.5 in 2006. In Norway, murderers are now likely to serve more than 12 years compared to 8 years previously. In Sweden, there were 14 "lifers" in prison in 1971 compared to 153 in 2006. This paper argues that more severe sanctions in all three countries are related to increased public anxiety about crime related to the erosion of social solidarity, feelings of security, and homogeneity in Scandinavian societies. This erosion is most pronounced in Sweden. As the commitment to welfare governance weakens, increases in individualism are accompanied by a socioeconomic competitiveness that leads to intolerance and punitiveness toward outsider groups. The paper advises, however, that although imprisonment rates and lengths may be increasing, especially in Sweden, there is no indication that support for humane prison conditions is eroding in any of the Scandinavian countries. 58 references