Why does the government want to investigate the matter? What the government is doing is reviewing the entire penal system in a major investigation that could lead to major changes and significantly harsher punishments for violent and sexual crimes. The purpose of the investigation is said to be to take a comprehensive approach to the so-called punishment scales and it will also make proposals that make the punishment tougher for repeat offenders or for those who commit multiple crimes. What consequences can it have? What the government highlights is that there will be a greater focus on the function of punishment to protect the population against crime, and to take into account the victims’ need for redress. Another consequence will be that more people will end up in prison, for a longer period of time, and the government expects that this can also reduce crime because locked up people cannot commit crimes. But this is also expected to lead to a sharp increase in the number of incarcerated people in Sweden: The Norwegian Prison and Probation Service expects to have to triple the number of prison places in ten years and also warns that there may be overcrowding and a lack of staff in the country’s prisons. The Minister of Justice also spoke about capital punishment – what is it? It is about being able to sentence people who are considered dangerous to society to prison for an indefinite period of time and could, for example, be applied to people who have been repeatedly convicted of serious sexual crimes. The government is also open to the possibility that such a sentence could be handed down to gang criminals, and this is currently being investigated in an investigation that should be completed this summer.
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