– What you are betting on is more police officers and higher penalties. Now it is that we have had an extreme expansion of criminal legislation since the turn of the century and we have also had a marked increase in the number of police officers, and that does not seem to help. And the only thing the government can say is; more of the same. For me, the conclusion is rather that we should think in other ways, this has not yielded anything, says Henrik Tham.
He believes that it may seem logical to toughen the punishment when crime increases and becomes more brutal, but that there is no support in the research that harsher punishment curbs the kind of crime development we are now seeing.
– It is understandable in light of the serious situation we have with shootings, deadly violence and explosions, but perhaps not very rational. When we look at the development of crime in Sweden historically, we cannot see that it is toughening of the punishment or more police officers that matters.
He emphasizes that Sweden needs a police force, prosecution and courts, but believes that an expansion of those activities will only have a marginal effect.
Harder tone from several directions
Tham believes that it is both right-wing and left-wing governments that pushed for an increasingly strict criminal policy, but that the development under the Tidö government moves the positions further forward.
– After the previous eight years with a social democratic and environmental party government, I didn’t think you could get even more penal and coercive laws, but you obviously can. It is an extreme expansion in the criminal repression of crime.
So what does society need to do to deal with crime?
– A general formula for criminologists when it comes to crime is to increase the legitimate possibilities and reduce the illegitimate ones. One has to ask what it is that is so attractive for these young people to start a criminal career.