The review that Ekot has done shows that people convicted of crimes continue to commit crimes while waiting to start serving their sentences. Of the nearly 11,000 people who were at large before their imprisonment between 2019 and 2020, nearly 2,200 of them committed a crime, which then resulted in a district court ruling.
There were also 18 men who have been identified as violent and harassing the woman before they began their prison sentences. Examples of crimes committed by the convicted men at large – often against the man’s former partner – are harassment, illegal threats, assault and arson, the survey shows.
Lack of space in the institutions is one reason why the men sentenced to prison go free before the start of punishment. The time on the loose is said to have been longer than is practice, reports Ekot.
In recent years, a lot of resources have been invested in strengthening the victim of violence in close relationships, which is why Åsa Witkowski, unit manager at the National Center for Women’s Peace in Uppsala, sees Ekot’s review as a failure for society:
– Because it is something of a system error when we do so much right and good. But fail with the last piece of the puzzle, she tells Ekot.
Ekot’s survey of convicted men who commit crimes against women is included in the radio channel’s thematic review “Free to commit crimes”.