Strömmer wants to be able to stop violent men – in entire municipalities

Since the year 2000, 358 women have been killed by a man they once loved.

In recent weeks alone, several women have been found dead – suspected of having been murdered.

– This is an ongoing failure in our society, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer.

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A man calls 112.

It is the dawn of March 23 and his wife is lifeless.

At the hospital, serious injuries are discovered on the woman’s body, so serious that she is declared dead two days later. The man, her partner for many years, is now in custody on suspicion of murder and aggravated rape.

The case in Hässelby is the latest of several just in recent weeks where a man is suspected of having killed a woman he had a relationship with.

Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg (L) and Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M) sit side by side at a long table inside the Government Office.

In the past year, Strömmer has mainly been seen holding press conferences about gang crime and the wave of violence that shook Sweden.

But in recent weeks the focus has shifted somewhat, the many suspected murders of women have put pressure on those in power to act.

– It is obvious that we have to do things differently, says Paulina Brandberg.

“Want to use the commitment”

Strömmer calls the suspected murders of women an ongoing failure in society.

– The good thing is that the issue is highlighted again, that there is a mobilization from the whole of society. We want to use the commitment to work long-term, he says.

But even though gang crime requires large resources, Strömmer and Brandberg believe that men’s violence against women is still one of their most important issues – and that a lot of work is in progress.

The government is currently investigating several measures that they believe can counter the deadly violence within close relationships.

Among other things, relaxations in privacy legislation; for example, that social services and health care should be able to provide information to the police in the event of violent and sexual crimes against relatives.

– I don’t think it is a natural law that so many people choose to injure and kill their partners. So we need to identify why it happens. What risk factors are behind it? Were there warning signs? In that case, it must be easier to cooperate between different actors such as social services, psychiatry, school and police so that they arrive before it is too late, says Paulina Brandberg.

“We want to lower the bar”

Aftonbladet has previously told about Nora who was nearly killed by her husband last year. Only in connection with the police investigation did it emerge that two weeks before the attempted murder, the husband told a psychiatrist that he had thoughts of harming Nora. Nora says that she had wanted to know even then – to be able to protect herself.

– We have seen in so many cases that perpetrators have been in contact with psychiatry and frankly said that they are considering harming themselves or people around them. This violence does not have to happen if the information reaches the right people and we act on it, says Paulina Brandberg.

The government is currently also preparing proposals for extended contact bans. Many abused women testify to how difficult it is to get a restraining order against their perpetrator, and in several cases where women are subsequently murdered, they have applied for a restraining order before the murder but were denied.

– The contact bans are a repressive measure against the man but an incredibly important crime prevention tool. We want to be able to expand the geographical area, so that it can include an entire municipality, so that the woman does not have to live in fear or in hiding. We also want to lower the bar for when it can be issued, says Gunnar Strömmer.

He says that today it is as if the legal system thinks it needs a conviction before a restraining order can be issued.

Investigating tougher penalties

– But since these crimes often take place within the four walls of the home, you must be able to weigh in other information, such as repeated reports or reports of concern, for example, he says.

Other measures being investigated include being able to use electronic foot shackles in more cases, and the government has also recently submitted a bill on strengthened tenancy protection for victims of violence. This means that the perpetrator must be able to get rid of his rented apartment, while the victim of violence can stay.

An investigation into tougher penalties has also been appointed. That those who are repeatedly convicted of serious violent and sexual crimes should be able to be sentenced to life imprisonment, even if none of the individual crimes carry a life sentence on the penalty scale.

“Been too cowardly”

– In my previous work as a prosecutor, we saw so many offensive cases where you could see that this person will continue to commit crimes. The result is crime victims who live year after year hidden with extremely limited lives, just because we were too cowardly, says Paulina Brandberg.

Aftonbladet’s long-term investigation Killed women shows that since the year 2000, an average of 15 women per year have been killed by a man they once loved – a figure that remains relatively constant year after year.

Is there anything you should have acted on more quickly in this matter, do you have any self-criticism?

– Society has not done enough when it comes to men’s violence against women. One of the first measures that we presented after the government took office was that we should draw up a powerful action program against men’s violence against women, other violence in close relationships and honour-related violence and oppression. In addition, we are reorganizing legal policy to strengthen the perspective of crime victims. We have worked on the issue on a broad front from day one, and we will not budge an inch to address the violence, says Paulina Brandberg.

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