RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57

NOTES ON CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SWEDEN AND SCANDINAVIA

Hanns von Hofer*

I. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN cluster is characterised by relatively SCANDINAVIA: AN OVERVIEW low levels of income and class inequality, and low poverty rates, but Geographically, the Scandinavian a high level inequality between the countries (here meaning Denmark, younger and the older generations; Finland, Norway and Sweden) lie on the margins of Europe, and with the exception • a southern European cluster of Denmark are rather sparsely populated, (including Greece, Italy, Portugal and with a total population of around 24 Spain) characterised by much lower million. All the countries bar Finland are levels of welfare state provision and constitutional monarchies, and all are both lower rates of employment, but by protestant and very homogeneous in terms strong traditional families. Here we of culture. It wasn’t until a few decades find higher levels of income and class ago that the Nordic countries began to feel inequality and of poverty, but low the impact of immigration, this level being levels of inter-generation inequality; highest in Sweden and lowest in Finland. The standard of living in the Nordic • a central European cluster with an countries is among the highest in the world intermediate position (including and the region’s modern political history Austria, Belgium France, Germany, has been shaped on the whole by the Ireland, Luxembourg, the principles of social democracy. Netherlands and the UK). The UK borders on the southern cluster in Comparative research into levels of terms of its high levels of income welfare has shown that there is a rather inequality, poverty and class clear-cut pattern of national clusters in the inequality. EU-member states of similarity in the welfare mix, as well as the general Against this sketchy backdrop distributive outcome in material living reasonably simplistic descriptions of standards. The European Union appears traditional crime in the Nordic countries, to be divided in three homogeneous clusters and these countries’ responses to crime, are (Vogel, 1997): presented in the following. • a northern European cluster 1. International Crime Victims (including Denmark, Finland, Surveys (ICVS) Norway [not a member of the EU]) Because of variations in the rules and Sweden exhibiting high levels of governing the collection and production of social expenditure and labour market statistics in different countries, it is participation and weak family ties. generally accepted by experts that In terms of income distribution this comparisons based on crime statistics do not in principal allow for the possibility of * Department of Criminology, Stockholm University, making cross-national level comparisons of Sweden crime (CoE, 1999b:13). For this reason,

284 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS when cross-national comparisons of crime have been summarised and are presented levels are considered desirable, the in the table below. international crime victims surveys (Mayhew & Killias, 1990; Mayhew & van Generally speaking, the level of criminal Dijk, 1997) are a great help despite the victimisation is reported to be lower in obvious methodological difficulties which Finland and Norway than in Sweden face even these data sets. The data are (however, the Norwegian data refer to 1989 collected by means of telephone interviews only). For the most part, Sweden lies fairly (using standardised questions) based on close to the European average. Similar random samples of between 1,000 and differences between the Nordic countries 2,000 persons from each country. A total were also found during the 1980s when of nineteen countries have participated in comparisons were carried out on results the three surveys (1989, 1992 and 1996), from national victims surveys produced in whilst of the Nordic countries, Norway took these countries. At that point the results part only in 1989, Sweden in 1992 and 1996 from Denmark were similar in many and Finland in all three. Denmark has not respects to those in Sweden (RSÅ, 1990:146 participated at all and must therefore be ff). Sweden distinguishes herself (along excluded from the following presentation. with the Netherlands) with respect to the The offence types covered in the survey are: level of bicycle thefts, whilst the Nordic car theft, motorcycle theft, bicycle theft, countries on the whole present relatively burglary and attempted burglary, robbery, low levels of car vandalism, burglary and theft from the person, sex offences and robbery. However, the Nordic countries assault/threatening behaviour. score higher on sex offences and high on Results from all the surveys between assaults/threatening behaviour. There has 1989 and 1996, irrespective of how many been speculation that these differences times the individual countries participated, might in part be explained by higher levels Table 1 Victimisation over the last year (percentage victim once or more), 1989, 1992 and 1996 according to the ICVS project. Source: Mayhew & van Dijk (1997, Appendix 4, Table 1). DK FI NO SE EUR9 Car theft n.a. 0.5 1.1 1.5 1.2 Theft from car n.a. 2.8 2.8 4.4 5.4 Car vandalism n.a. 4.6 4.6 4.6 7.5 Motorcycle theft n.a. 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.8 Bicycle theft n.a. 4.4 2.8 7.9 3.5 Burglary n.a. 0.6 0.8 1.4 1.9 Attempted burglary n.a. 0.6 0.4 1.0 1.9 Robbery n.a. 0.7 0.5 0.4 1.1 Thefts of personal property n.a. 3.6 3.2 4.4 4.4 Sexual incidents n.a. 2.3 2.2 1.9 2.3 Assaults & threats n.a. 3.8 3.0 3.6 2.7 All eleven offence types n.a. 18.7 16.4 22.8 23.3 Number of completed interviews n.a. 6544 1009 2707 29903 n.a. = not available FI (Finland): 1989,1992,1996; NO (Norway): 1989 only; SE (Sweden): 1992, 1996. EUR9: Austria, Belgium, France, England & Wales, (West)Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

285 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 of awareness and lower levels of tolerance and Sweden also came out below the among Scandinavian women when it comes average (Mayhew & van Dijk, 1997:54). to setting limits for the forms of inter- gender encounters that are considered 2. Trends socially acceptable (HEUNI, 1998:132 f, Since there are no victims surveys (at 163, 349, 432). either the national or European level) covering the post-war period, descriptions Additional data from cause of death of crime trends have to be based on records statistics regarding the mid-1990s indicate of crimes reported to the police. Despite (CoE, 1999:43) that levels of homicide in the well known shortcomings of official Denmark, Norway and Sweden are on a crime statistics, the use of such statistics par with those reported in central Europe to compare crime trends is an accepted (around 1.2 per 100,000 of population), method (CoE, 1999b:13). whilst Finland still presents considerably higher frequencies (around 3.0 per 100,000 The number of crimes reported to the of population), which had already been police has risen in all the Nordic countries noted in the criminological literature of the at least since the beginning of the 1960s. 1930s (NCS, 1997:13). The smallest increase is found in the number of reported incidents of homicide According to various estimates (the number of such reports has doubled, (EMCDDA,1997: Table 5 & 1998: Table 4; except in Finland where they seem to have Reuband, 1998:332), national prevalence remained at more or less the same level). rates of problem drug use appear to be near The largest increase (between seven and average in Denmark and below average in twelve times) is to be found in the number Norway, Finland and Sweden as compared of reported robberies, this being partly due to central and southern Europe. An to the fact that at the end of the 1950s account of the Nordic drug scene in the robbery was more or less unheard of in 1990s is given by Olsson et al. (1997). these countries, a total of only 1,200 robberies being registered in these four The ICVS project surveys not only the Nordic countries in 1960 (NCS, 1997:72). extent of criminal victimisation but also The increase is probably linked in part to other related phenomena such as levels of the upward trend in juvenile crime and in fear, crime-preventive measures, and part to the emergence of a group of socially attitudes towards and experiences of the marginalised males (NCS, 1997:31). It is police. Asked whether they felt they were nonetheless worth noting that according to at risk of being burgled in the course of the the ICVS, robbery levels in Finland, following year, respondents from Finland Norway and Sweden still remain low in an and Sweden were ranked low (Mayhew & international perspective (see Table 1 van Dijk, 1997:50). Asked how safe they supra). The reporting of other offence types felt outside in their own neighbourhood (assault, rape and theft) has increased after dark, feelings of insecurity were between two and six times over the same lowest among respondents from Finland period. When the countries are ranked on and Sweden together with Switzerland the basis of increases in five offence (Mayhew & van Dijk, 1997:51). In response categories (homicide, assault, rape, robbery to the question of whether they had and theft), Sweden presents increases of installed various kinds of anti break-in the greatest magnitude, whilst the devices (such as burglar alarms, special increases are least marked in Finland. locks, or bars on windows or doors) Finland

286 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

Crime trends in the Nordic countries are differences. Figure 1 clearly shows the on the whole much the same as those found striking similarity between the trend in in other central European countries. registered assault and theft offences in the Westfelt (1998) recently compared crime Nordic countries and that in the countries trends in Scandinavia with those in Austria, of central Europe. The similarities in crime England & Wales, France, (West) Germany trends have previously been noted by writers and the Netherlands. He found that all such as Heidensohn & Farrel (1991), Eisner countries reported increases in crime, even (1994), Killias (1995), Joutsen (1996), and though there were periodical local Marshall (1996).

Figure 1a Assault offence trends in the Nordic and some European countries, 1950(63)-1996. Scaled series, per 100,000 of population. Source: Westfelt (1998; updated).

ASSAULT 8

6

4

2

NORD4 EUR5 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 EUR5 = Austria, England & Wales, France, (West) Germany and the Netherlands

Figure 1b Theft offence trends in the Nordic and some European countries, 1950-1996. Scaled series, per 100,000 of population. Source: Westfelt (1998; updated). THEFT 5

4

3

2

1 NORD4 EUR5 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 EUR5 = Austria, England & Wales, France, (West) Germany and the Netherlands

287 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57

It has been suggested that theft trends juvenile crime trends, and the increases in the 1990s may be in the process of have simply continued. The trends in changing direction. Up to now, the levels of violent offences committed by observations on which such statements are juveniles differ somewhat from the general based remain too few for us to be able to crime trend. Here virtually all the speak with any degree of certainty - countries present increases during the last particularly in light of the fact that we do ten - fifteen years (with the possible not have good theories available which exception of Finland and Scotland). would be able to explain such a break in crime trends (cf. Steffensmeier & Harer, 3. The Response to Crime and the 1999). System of Sanctions The number of police per 100,000 of The trend in juvenile crime constitutes population is lower in the Nordic countries a special case. The issue has recently been than in either southern or central Europe studied by Pfeiffer (1998) and Estrada (data for Germany are unavailable). In the (1998). According to Estrada, levels of mid-1990s the Nordic countries reported a juvenile crime (i.e. mostly against property) total of 183 police per 100,000 of increased in all ten of the European population, whilst central Europe reported countries studied (Denmark, Finland, 291 (although the Netherlands were on a Norway, Sweden as well as Austria, par with the Nordic countries) and England, (West) Germany, the southern Europe 395 (CoE, 1999b:78). As Netherlands, Scotland, and Switzerland) is the case in other European countries, without exception in the decades following however, the clear up rate has dropped the Second World War. In many of these considerably over the years (see Figure 2). countries this upward trend was broken Exactly how this drop ought to be however, probably at some point between interpreted is not altogether clear: purely the mid-1970s and the early 1980s. as a fall in police efficiency, for example, or Available statistics suggest that there as a result of increases in the number of followed something of a levelling off. In offences which were always unlikely to be three countries, however, England, Finland cleared, or as a combination of such factors and Germany no such break is visible in (cf. Balvig, 1985:12). Figure 2 Clear up rates (all offences covered by respective penal codes) in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 1950-1997 (every fifth year). Source: NCS (1997, Table 9; updated). Percentage 100

80

60

40

FI 20 NO DK SE 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

288 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

The ICVS show that the level of public where prison sentences are employed less satisfaction with the police is mixed in frequently. This is of course due primarily Finland and Sweden (data are unavailable to the fact that the large majority of for Denmark and Norway). Sweden tops offences which lead to convictions are of a the list as regards the extent to which less or moderately serious nature and the members of the public report crimes to the demand for proportionality between crime police (Mayhew & van Dijk, 1997:40). and punishment means that prison Concerning the way persons reporting sentences should be reserved for more crime feel the police have acted at the time serious offences. the crime was reported, Finland and Sweden present a higher than average level The following brief description of choices of satisfaction in comparison with the other of sanction concerns those imposed for all countries (Mayhew & van Dijk, 1997:44). offences against the penal code taken However, in the matter of how satisfied the together (NCS, 1997:78 ff). A more detailed respondents were with the police in description looking at different offence general, confidence seems to be average in categories would not have been feasible Sweden and below average in Finland given the brevity of this overview. Since (Mayhew & van Dijk, 1997: 47). the majority of offences committed against the penal code are property offences of one The ICVS have also assessed attitudes kind or another, the sanctions described to the kind of sentences dealt out in respect here are in practise primarily those of criminal offences. The respondents were imposed for theft offences and the like. The asked to choose which of a variety of figures refer to 1995. In the case of Norway, sanctions they felt to be most suitable for the data had in part to be estimated since a 21 year old male having committed his “misdemeanours” are not included in their second burglary, stealing a colour television entirety in the Norwegian statistics (NOS, set in the process. Given the choice 1997: Table 40). between fines, a prison sentence or community service, just under 50 percent Finland convicts far more people than of the Swedish respondents chose the other Nordic countries (1,238 per community service, 24 percent prison, and 100,000, as compared with 927 in fourteen percent fines (Mayhew & van Dijk, Denmark, 731 in Sweden and 544 in 1997:56). The corresponding figures for Norway). Finland’s unique position may Finnish respondents were 47, 16 and 16 be partially explained by the legalistic percent, and for the Norwegians 47, 14 and approach characteristic of Finnish judicial 23 percent. The view in the Nordic practise, with its rather strict observance countries does not seem to deviate too much of mandatory prosecution (Joutsen, [1999]) from the European average, with the and also, as has been intimated by Finnish exception of the English speaking nations, experts, by the fact that clear up rates have where prison sentences are advocated to a been consistently higher in Finland than greater extent. in the rest of Scandinavia.

Shinkai & Zvekic (1999:120) claim that In contrast to the other countries, public attitudes to punishment generally however, 81 percent of those convicted in conform to the actual sentencing options Finland receive fines (the corresponding available. This seems to hold true for the proportions in Denmark, Norway and Nordic countries, where fines and other Sweden being 59, 53 and 43 percent forms of sanction are most common and respectively). “Other sanctions” (excluding

289 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 prison sentences) are used most often in their judicial systems result in prison Sweden (42 percent as against 23 in populations of a similar size. The Council Denmark and Norway and eleven percent of Europe (CoE, 1999a:13) reports that the in Finland). This very rough outline inmate population in the Nordic countries nonetheless captures a number of the (measured on 1 September 1997) is low in essential characteristics of the sanctioning a European perspective (58 prison inmates culture of the Nordic countries: Sweden per 100,000 of population; the level being still appears as the country where the lowest in Norway at 53 per 100,000 and philosophy of individual prevention, based highest in Denmark at 62 per 100,000). on a wide variety of sanctions, is most The corresponding figure for central pronounced, whilst Finland most clearly Europe was 89 per 100,000, and for follows the classical tradition of imposing southern Europe 100 (with Greece included fines and prison sentences as the most although she deviates quite drastically common forms of sanction. Irrespective of from this figure with a low inmate these differences, fines are used extensively population of 54 per 100,000). The throughout the Nordic countries. perception that prison sentences are harmful and should thus be avoided as When it comes to the use of prison much as possible still has a great deal of sentences, these are imposed more often currency in the Nordic countries in Denmark and Norway - both in relative (Bondeson, 1998:94). and in absolute terms - than in Sweden and Finland. On the other hand, prison Unlike in many other European sentences are longer in Sweden and countries, there is no general problem of Finland. This somewhat complicated prison overcrowding in Scandinavia picture serves as a good indication of the (although such problems can arise in difficulties faced when trying to measure special types of institutions, CoE, and compare the relative “punitiveness” of 1999c:115 ff). As a rule, prisons in the the sanction systems of different countries Nordic countries are small (between 60 and (cf. Pease, 1994). 100 inmates), modern and characterised by high staffing levels (CoE, 1999a:51 ff). In addition, we could note that Sweden Open prisons, where security more or less abandoned the use of prison arrangements aimed at preventing escape terms as a means of sanctioning non- are kept to a minimum, account for payment of fines at the beginning of the between twenty percent (Sweden) and forty 1980s (Sveri, 1998) and that since the mid- percent of prison places (Denmark). For 1990s electronic tagging has been used as this reason the Nordic countries, with the an alternative for certain categories of exception of Finland, report high levels of offender sentenced to up to three months escapees in comparison with those of other imprisonment (Bishop, 1995; BRÅ, 1999). countries (CoE, 1999a:41). In 1998 almost 4,000 individuals served their sentence in this way, of whom less There are very few persons under the than 200 dropped out of the programme age of eighteen in Nordic prisons (such (KOS, 1998:45). individuals account for way below one percent of the prison population, CoE, 4. The Prisons 1999a:16). The proportion of female Despite the above differences in the prisoners lies - as in many other countries frequency and length of the prison - between five and six percent, whilst the sentences imposed in the Nordic countries, proportion of foreign citizens among prison

290 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS inmates varies quite considerably - being back to the civil war (1918) and its lowest in Finland at 4 percent, and highest aftermath (Christie, 1968:171). The in Sweden at 26 percent (CoE, 1999a:18). political mechanisms underlying the recent decrease have been described by Törnudd The average length of stay in prison can (1993) and Lappi-Seppäla (1998), who - be estimated (cf. NCS, 1997:82 f) to be among other things - concludes that the shortest in Norway (2.9 months in 1995) decrease of the prison population has not and longest in Sweden (5.2 months). As changed the Finnish crime picture in an regards the number of individuals serving unfavourable way as compared to other life sentences, on a certain day in 1998 Nordic countries (p. 27). there were twelve such ‘lifers’ in Denmark, 59 in Finland and 78 in Sweden (KOS, 5. Summary 1999:102). The life sentence has been This short overview of the state of the abolished in Norway. crime levels and penal systems of the Nordic countries, as portrayed by available Over the last 50 years, prison statistical sources, indicates that the crime populations have been fairly stable in the level in Scandinavia (as regards traditional Denmark, Norway and Sweden (see Figure offences) is on a par with or lower than that 3). The increases of the last ten years are of other European countries. Drug abuse not that large when seen in a European too appears to be less widespread in the perspective (CoE, 1999c:17). Finland Nordic countries. Increases in crime rates constitutes a remarkable exception to the during the post-war period have been very trend towards rising inmate numbers. substantial in the Nordic countries just as There the prison population has shrunk they have been elsewhere in Europe - quite considerably since the mid-1970s indicating that the recorded increases of (1976: 118 inmates per 100,000 of traditional crime in Europe may have population) and is today on a par with that common roots out of reach for varying of her Nordic neighbours. The roots of the national welfare and criminal policies. The past high Finnish population may be traced 1990s may have witnessed a stabilisation

Figure 3 Prison populations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 1950-1998 (every fifth year). Per 100,000 of population. Source: NCS (1997; updated)

Per 100,000 200

150

100

50 FI DK SE NO 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

291 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 in theft rates, albeit at a high level. quite clear in their inclination towards law Increasing equality between the sexes has and order and the need for tougher anti- probably contributed to an increase in the crime measures. reporting of violent and sexual offences against women (and children), making References these offences more visible. The system of Summary crime and correctional formal control in the Nordic countries is statistics regarding the Nordic countries are characterised by relatively low police found in CoE (1999a, 1999b) and NCS density, a falling clear up rate, the (1997). Summary profiles of criminal imposition of fines in a high proportion of justice systems are presented by HEUNI criminal cases and low prison populations. (1999) and in the World Factbook of Criminal Justice System The international crime victims surveys (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstracts/ (no data being available for Denmark and wfcj.htm). EUROSTAT (1997) provides Norway) indicate that fear of crime is valuable demographic and social data for comparatively low in Finland and Sweden; the period 1986-1996. and that (for this reason) people do not feel the need to take special precautions against Balvig, F., Crime in Scandinavia: Trends, the possibility of crime to any great extent. Explanations, and Consequences. In: Respondents appear to be fairly satisfied Bishop, N. (Ed), Scandinavian Criminal with the performance of the police and also Policy and Criminology 1980-85, pp. 7-17. support limits on the use of prison Copenhagen: Scandinavian Research sentences. Council for Criminology, 1985.

It should be remembered that debates Bishop, N., Intensive supervision with on crime policy in the mass media or among electronic monitoring: a Swedish politicians at the national level are rarely alternative to imprisonment. Penological based on a comparative cross-national Information Bulletin. Nos. 19 and 20, pp. perspective. Conclusions such as those 8-10. Council of Europe, 1994-1995. drawn in HEUNI’s “Profiles of Criminal Justice Systems” (1998), for example, BRÅ, Intensivövervakning med elektronisk kontroll. En utvärdering av 1997 och 1998 on Denmark: “In general, therefore, the års riksomfattande försöksverksamhet data (which is admittedly limited) [Intensive supervision with electronic suggest a relatively low crime problem monitoring. An evaluation of the in Denmark” (p. 134) nationwide trial period 1997 and 1998]. Brå-Rapport 1999:4 [with a summary in or on Sweden: “All in all, therefore, the English]. Stockholm: Brottsförebyggande image one receives from the data on rådet, 1999. crime and criminal justice is that, at least in the international comparison, Bondeson, U., Global Trends in Sweden has been relatively successful Corrections, Annales Internationales de in its crime prevention and criminal Criminologie 36(1/2), pp. 91-116, 1998. justice policy” (p. 434) Christie, N., Changes in Penal Values, would be rejected by many editorials and Scandinavian Studies in Criminology 2, politicians as artefacts. Instead, the pp. 161-172, 1968. scenarios painted are not uncommonly

292 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

CoE, Council of Europe Annual Penal Heidensohn, F. and Farrel, M. (Eds), Statistics SPACE I. Survey 1997. PC-CP Crime in Europe. London: Routledge, 1991. (99) 3 REV. Strasbourg, 5 July 1999a. HEUNI, Profiles of Criminal Justice CoE, European Sourcebook of Crime and Systems in Europe and North America Criminal Justice Statistics. PC-S-ST (99) 1990-1994. K. Kangaspunta, M. Joutsen, 8 REV. Strasbourg, 7 July 1999b. N. Ollus and S. Nevala (Eds). European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, CoE, Rapport finale d’activité. Conseil de affiliated with the United Nations. coopération pénologique. CDCP (99) 18 Publication Series No. 33. Helsinki, 1999. Addendum I. Strasbourg, le 13 julliet 1999c. Joutsen, M., Recent Trends in Crime in Western Europe. Paper presented at the van Dijk, J.J.M., Mayhew, P. and Killias, Fifth European Colloquium on Crime and M., Experiences of Crime Across the World: Criminal Policy, Ljubljana, 25-27 Key Findings of the 1989 International September 1996. Crime Survey. Deventer: Kluwer. Joutsen, M., Finland. In: G. Newman Eisner, E., The Effects of Economic (Ed.), World Factbook of Criminal Justice Structures and Phases of Development on Systems. Internet: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ Crime. In: Council of Europe, Crime and pub/ascii/wfbjfin.txt [Last modified: 02/23/ economy. Proceedings. Reports presented 99]. to the 11th Criminological colloquium (1994). Criminological research, Vol. Killias, M., Crime Policy in the Face of the XXXII, pp. 13-51. Strasbourg: Council of the Development of Crime in the New Europe Publishing, 1995. European Landscape. Report from the Fifth Conference on Crime Policy. EMCDDA, Annual Report on the State of Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1995. the Drugs Problem in the European Union 1997. European Monitoring Centre for KOS, Kriminalvårdens Officiella Statistik Drugs and Drug Addiction. Lisboa, 1997. [Official Statistics of Corrections]. Norrköping, 1999. EMCDDA, Annual Report on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European Union Lappi-Seppälä, T., Regulating the Prison 1998. European Monitoring Centre for Population. Experiences from a Long-Term Drugs and Drug Addiction. Luxembourg: Policy in Finland. National Research Office for Official Publications of the Institute of Legal Policy. Research European Communities, 1998. Communications 38. Helsinki, 1998.

EUROSTAT, Yearbook ’97. Luxembourg: Mayhew, P. and van Dijk, J.J.M., Criminal Office for Official Publications of the Victimisation in Eleven Industrialised European Communities, 1997. Countries. Key findings from the 1996 International Crime Victims Survey. Estrada. F., Juvenile Crime Trends in Post- Onderzoek en beleid 162. WODC, 1997. War Europe. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 7, pp. 23- Marshall Haen, I., How Exceptional Is the 42, 1999. United States? Crime Trends in Europe and the U.S., European Journal on

293 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57

Criminal Policy and Research, 4(2), pp. 7- 1999. 35, 1996. Steffensmeier, D. and Harer, M.D., Making NCS, Nordic Criminal Statistics 1950- Sense of Recent U.S. Crime Trends, 1980 1995. Hanns von Hofer (Ed). Stockholm: to 1996/1998: Age Composition Effects and Department of Criminology, 1997. Other Explanations, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 36(3), pp. 235- NOS, Kriminalstatistikk 1995 [Official 274, 1999. Statistics of Norway, Crime Statistics 1995]. C 392. Oslo-Kongsvinger, 1997. Sveri, K., Incarceration for Non-payment of a Fine. In: H.J. Albrecht et al., Olsson, B., Stymne, A., Hakkarainen, P., Internationale Perspektiven in Schmidt, D., Skretting, A. and Valsson, K. Kriminologie und Strafrecht. Festschrift S., The Nordic drug scene in the 1990s: für Günther Kaiser, pp. 681-690. Berlin: recent trends, Nordic Studies on Alcohol Duncker & Humblot, 1998. and Drugs 14 (English Supplement), 1997. Törnudd, P., Fifteen Years of Decreasing Pease, K., Cross-National Imprisonment Prisoner Rates in Finland. National Rates. Limitations of Method and Possible Research Institute of Legal Policy. Conclusions, British Journal of Research Communication 8. Helsinki, Criminology 34, pp. 116-130. 1993.

Pfeiffer, C., Juvenile crime and violence in Vogel, J., Living conditions and inequality Europe. In: M. Tonry (Ed), Crime and in the European Union 1997. Eurostat Justice: A Review of Research 23, pp. 255- Working Papers. Population and social 328. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago conditions. E/1997-3. [Working document]. Press, 1998. 1997.

Reuband, K.-H., Drug Policies and Drug Westfelt, L., Utvecklingen av registrerade Prevalence: The Role of Demand and brott under efterkrigstiden. Sverige i Supply, European Journal on Criminal europeisk belysning [Development of Policy and Research 6(3), pp. 321-336, registered offences during the post-war 1998. period. Sweden compared with Europe]. In: H. von Hofer (Ed), Brottsligheten i RSÅ, Nordisk kriminalstatistik [Nordic Europe [Crime in Europe], pp. 20-40. criminal statistics]. In: Rättsstatistisk Lund: Studentlitteratur, 1998. årsbok 1990 [Yearbook of Judicial Statistics 1990]. Official Statistics of Sweden. II. THE SWEDISH PRISON SYSTEM Stockholm: Statistics Sweden, pp. 142-152, 1. Incarceration in Sweden 1990. Since the end of the 1980s, the Swedish penal system has been officially based on Shinkai, H. and Zvekic, U., Punishment. a model of just deserts (cf. Lundquist, 1990; In: G. Newman (Ed), Global Report on Tham, 1995). This means that the Crime and Justice, pp. 89-120. Published perceived gravity of the offence, or the for the United Nations Office for Drug ‘penal value’, is the most important factor Control and Crime Prevention. Centre for in the decision of an appropriate sanction International Crime Prevention. New for the crime. This does, however, not York/Oxford: Oxford University Press,

294 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS imply that there is a heavy reliance on the and 33 percent between two and six use of imprisonment as a sanction for months. The average prison population crimes. Quite the contrary: the modern amounted to 5,156 prisoners (of whom official view is “that, preferably, people 1,071 were remand prisoners) or to a total ought not to be locked up. To deal with of 58 prisoners per 100,000 population. offenders by keeping them in the Prisoners released in 1998 had served an community is considered to be the best way average of 154 days in prison. of getting them to lead crime-free lives” (Basic Facts, 1997: 1). Thus, probation, 2. The Prison System: An Overview community service, civil commitment The Ministry of Justice is responsible for (contract treatment), suspended sentences establishing prison policy, but has no and fines are the preferred methods of authority to interfere in the daily work of punishment. This is further emphasized the prisons and probation service centrally by a special provision in the Criminal Code or regionally. This is, instead, the which prescribes that in all cases the court resposibility of The Swedish Prison and “is required to give notice to any Probation Service (SPPS), which is headed circumstance or circumstances suggesting by a government appointed board that the imposition of a sentence milder than consists of trusted citizens (members of imprisonment”. parliament, charitable organizations, labour unions, and so forth). The In 1998, about 125,000 people (or 1,400 government also appoints the Director- per 100,000 population) were found guilty General. for a variety of criminal acts. The breakdown of sanctions imposed was as All prisons and gaols (remand prisons) follows: 77,000 fines; 15,000 prison in Sweden are state controlled and there sentences (of which 4,000 were converted are no county jails. Privatization of prisons into ‘electronic monitoring’, see below); is a non-issue in Sweden, despite 10,000 probation orders (including Parliament’s decision, in 1998, that supervision of young offenders); 8,000 authorized private security firms may be penal warnings (suspended sentence), and used, under special circumstances, to carry less than 400 committals to psychiatric out functions such as transporting care. In addition, the public prosecutor prisoners or guarding hospitalized waved prosecution for 14,000 people.1 prisoners.

All prison sentences are for a fixed term The penal administration of the country or for life, depending on the gravity of the is divided into five regional units. The offence. The minimum prison sentence is regional offices are responsible for the 14 days. Most often the actual prison administration of gaols and prisons, sentence is for a relatively short period. aftercare and non-custodial sentences During 1998, a total of 9,497 persons were (supervision). In October 1998, the SPPS admitted to prison, of whom 30 percent employed approximately 7,800 persons, 42 received a sentence of two months or less percent of whom were female; 4,487 of staff were employed in prisons and 1,553 in 1 If not otherwise stated, all statistical data are taken gaols. In 1997, the staff/inmate ratio from the following official sources: Crime and amounted to 0.9: 1 in the prisons and to Criminal Justice Statistics 1998 and Correctional 1.4: 1 in the goals. The total budget, Statistics 1998. The Swedish population amounted including expenditure for requirements to 8.85 million people in 1998. such as non-institutional care, for the 1998

295 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 fiscal year was 4,150 million Swedish Before that, a distinction was made Kronor (SEK) (about 460 million US between national and local, or Dollars). The daily cost per inmate, ‘neighbourhood’ prisons. National and local depending on the prison category (see prisons could be open or closed prisons. below), has been calculated at between 200 National prisons were usually maximum- US Dollars in open prisons and 300 US security prisons but could vary from Dollars in maximum-security prisons. maximum to minimum prisons. Neighbourhood prisons were usually The management style in Swedish minimum or medium security prisons. prisons is ‘organic’, rather than militaristic. Armed guards do not exist. In very serious Category I prisons are similar to unrest situations, the local police maximum-security prisons in other department is contacted and authorized to countries. They are designed with the deal with the situation. However, riots and highest level of security possible, given the other forms of unrest are extremely rare current state of technology and security events in Swedish prisons. In 1994 a major methodology, in order to prevent escapes incident occurred at the maximum security and release attempts. The only difference Tidaholm prison, when inmates set fire to between category II and category I prisons parts of the prison. is that category II prisons do not have security measures preventing release Presently an increasing number of attempts. Category III prisons are prison officers are required to maintain basically designed to thwart ‘impulse contact with a specified number of inmates escape’ attempts. These prisons only on a daily basis. The purpose of this contact provide minimum security measures responsibility is to assist inmates with against escapes. Finally, category IV treatment, education and activity prisons, known as ‘open prisons’, have no planning, as well as to assist in the physical barriers or technology aimed at granting of routine parole. The minimum preventing escape. The only barriers to requirements for a position as correctional escape are the (unarmed) prison officers officer is at least two years of senior high themselves. Persons convicted of drunken school education or the applicant must be driving and less serious offences are often at least 26 years of age with at least four sent to category IV prisons. Prisoners years of work experience. In addition to serving time in these prisons may be the general educational requirements, allowed to pursue employment or education prospective correctional officers are during the day outside of the prison. required to have at least two years of senior high school training in the English In 1998, the average number of available language, Swedish and in the social prison beds (including gaols) was sciences. Hiring is based on personal job approximately 5,600 with the national interviews with prospective officers. average being at about 87 percent of occupancy. On average, six percent of the 2.1 Prison Classification prisoners were placed in category I prisons; In Sweden there are four different 18 percent in category II prisons; 30 percent security categories for prisons. Prison in category III prisons; 21 percent in categories I to III are known as ‘closed category IV prisons; and 26 percent were prisons’ and category IV prisons are remand prisoners. considered ‘open prisons’. This system was introduced in the first half of the 1990s. From an international perspective,

296 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

Swedish prisons are modern, expensive, other forms of public service should and small. The largest prison, Kumla, apply to prisoners just as they apply which is a maximum-security prison, has to ordinary citizens; about 260 (nominal) beds and only 177 (iii) vicinity, that is, the prisoner should be were in use during 1998. The typical placed in prison as close as possible to Swedish prison has far fewer than 100 his or her home town; and beds. Single celling at night is the rule and (iv) co-operation, meaning that all parts of over-crowding does not occur. the correctional system (probation service, gaols and prisons) should work In 1998, no escapes were reported from closely together in individual cases as category I and II prisons, 36 escapes from well as in general. category III prisons, 155 escapes from category IV prisons and no escapes from Due to a general shift in Swedish gaols. Over and above these numbers, criminal policy towards a pro-active and another 178 abscondings (in connection more repressive model, increasing with furloughs, during transport, etc.) were emphasis has been placed on security reported. By official Swedish standards, during the late 1980s and the 1990s with this level of security is considered high. the result that the vicinity principle is now obsolete. Recently, the aim of the prison 3 The Swedish Prison Philosophy system has been officially described as Even if sentencing in Sweden is now follows: “The correctional system’s based on a just deserts model, treatment, operations shall be characterized by a presently called special ‘programmes humane attitude, good care of and active activities’ is still an explicit goal of influence upon the prisoner, observing a correction. According to the current Prison high degree of security as well as by due Treatment Act of 1974 (PTA), the primary deference to the prisoner’s integrity and to goal of the prison sentence is to promote due process. Operations shall be directed the inmate’s adjustment to the community towards measures, which influence the as well as to counteract the detrimental prisoner not to commit further crimes. The effects of imprisonment. Already in the objective should be to promote and Prison Treatment Act of 1945, the view was maintain the humane treatment of expressed that the deprivation of freedom offenders without jeopardizing security” itself should be regarded as the penal (author’s translation). Or in the words of element of a prison sentence and not the the SPPS itself : “The Prison and Probation actual prison experience itself. Thus, the Service has two main goals. To contribute PTA of 1974 states explicitly that an inmate to the reduction of criminality, and to work shall be treated with respect for his or her to increase safety in society. To achieve human dignity. these goals we work with sentenced persons in order to improve their The PTA of 1974 is based on four possibilities of living a life without principles: committing new crimes.” (i) imprisonment as last resort, that is, the usual punishment should be a fine 4 Specific Aspects of the or a community sentence, since Correctional System imprisonment normally has 4.1 Medical Treatment of Prisoners detrimental effects; All newly received inmates are (ii) normalization, that is, the same rules questioned about their state of health by concerning social and medical care and the admitting prison official. In the event

297 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 of any health complaints, the prison official another. The programmes include sends them to a prison nurse. In 1998, a ‘conventional work’, education, specialized total of 163 nurses were employed by the rehabilitation or treatment programmes, Prison Service. Typically, all new inmates day releases for the pursuit of study or are examined by a prison nurse within 24 work outside the prison during normal hours of arrival. Any prisoner who is business hours, internal service, that is, identified as possibly having a serious kitchen duties, building and general medical problem is then referred to a maintenance, and finally, training in physician for a closer examination and, if everyday social skills, like how to do necessary, any further referrals are made. laundry, maintain a clean living space, In the event that an inmate requires cooking, and planning a personal budget. specialized treatment, the treatment is In 1998, work programmes comprised obtained from outside medical services. about 47 percent of all programmes Inmates that require hospitalization are activities, education formed 20 percent, transferred to an outside hospital for as service and maintenance programmes long as necessary. comprised 15 percent, specialized re- habilitation and treatment programmes, Inmates are offered the opportunity to six percent, and other activities 12 percent. have an HIV test performed upon entry into the facility. Prisoners who are sero- The industrial prison work is positive or who have the Aids virus may administrated by a special unit known as request separation from other prisoners. KrimProd. This unit is responsible for On April 1, 1998, 25 inmates were classified manufacturing operations within the as HIV-positive. prison system and also functions as a supplier to civilian companies or sells In 1998, three prisoners and seven various prison products directly to retailers remand prisoners were reported to have and wholesalers. KrimProd employs committed suicide. In 1994 the European modern managerial work ethic principles. Council’s Committee for the Prevention of The employment fields traditionally Torture and Inhuman or Degrading available to inmates are industry, Treatment or Punishment (CPT) criticized agriculture, horticulture, forestry, Sweden for keeping remand prisoners construction and various service under excessive restrictions and in occupations. Those inmates who are isolation.2 Recently, Parliament decided to employed in the conventional employment ease restrictions and that, as a rule, sector receive a wage of about 1.20 US remand prisoners must be given the Dollars per hour. Prisoners participating opportunity to stay with other remand in educational programmes are paid a prisoners. specific allowance of about 1 US Dollars per hour. 4.2 Prison Labour All inmates must participate in 4.3 Disciplinary and Security Measures programmes activities in one form or Unlike other countries, solitary confinement, as a formal disciplinary 2 The Swedish Government had requested the punishment, is not used in the Swedish publication of this report and it is available from prison system. However, solitary the CPT’s website (www.cpt.coe.fr/cpt/swe.htm). - confinement can be resorted to under those The CPT paid a new visit to Sweden in February special circumstances (disturbing the 1998. general order, being under the influence of

298 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS intoxicating substances, attempts to prisoners amongst themselves or prison escape, investigations of breach of rapes a major issue. In 1998, a total of 241 discipline). In 1998, a total of 2,100 cases employees, including staff of gaols and of solitary confinement were reported. after-care services, reported that they had been subjected to threats or violence According to the law, amended on perpetrated by inmates or clients. January 1, 1999, there are two official Approximately 45 percent of the reports sanctions that prison officials may impose referred to intentional violence, while 55 upon a prisoner for violating prison rules, percent were reports of different forms of although, serious violations which threats. However, since 1993, at least four constitute a criminal offence, can be prisoners were killed by other prisoners. brought before a court. The principal No prison killings had ever been reported sanction available for use by the prison prior to 1993. All killings occurred in officials is a decision that up to 15 days of maximum-security prisons. release can be postponed. The second sanction is a formal warning to the 4.4 Complaints procedures prisoner. In 1998, 3,700 warnings and The complaints procedures are laid down 1,600 cases of postponed release were filed. in the Prison Treatment Act (PTA) and the The average number of days additionally Prison Treatment Ordinance. In general, spent in prison amounted to 3.6 days. the role of the courts is down played in the Swedish system. Only decisions of Another informal, but documented individual cases, decided by the central disciplinary measure is the use of a prison prison administration transfer. If a prisoner seriously (kriminalvårdsstyrelsen), can be sent on misbehaves, the prison officials may appeal to the administrative court. transfer the unruly inmate to another Statistical data on the number and nature prison. In 1998, the number of transfers of prisoners’ complaints and the outcome amounted to 330 cases. Despite the of complaints are not available. availability of these sanctions, informal discussions with the fractious prisoner are Like every other citizen, prisoners also the usual method of dealing with have the option to appeal to the infractions unless the infraction is of an ombudsman. During the period 1 July especially serious nature (Bishop, 1991). 1997 to 30 June 1998, the ombudsman concluded a total of 410 complaints in the The illegal use of drugs in prison or field of corrections, of which 32 cases led to whilst on furlough and escapes or admonitions or criticism by the attempted escapes are the most common ombudsman. reasons for imposing disciplinary measures on an inmate (Bishop, 1991). It should be Inmates in Swedish prisons have the noted that escapes from prison or right, guaranteed by law, to meet and attempted escapes are not viewed as a discuss issues of mutual interest and to criminal offence in Sweden. Therefore, no present their views to the warden of the further sanctions can be imposed on an prison. Prisoners can hold regular escapee other than the official disciplinary meetings, unattended by the prison staff sanctions. However, disciplinary problems to discuss the pertinent issues. Proposals are not a priority issue in debates about emanating from such inmate ‘community’ Swedish prisons. Nor is violence between meetings are discussed with the warden by prisoners and prison employees, between a specially elected council of inmates. The

299 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 inmate council is elected by the other visits are supervised by a prison officer. inmates and represents them. Facilities for regular conjugal visits are also made available for those prisoners who Swedish prisoners are entitled to vote have a partner. Another form of visit is in the general elections. the regular visits paid by members of organizations like the Red Cross, Amnesty 4.5 Visits and Other Contacts with International, the Churches, and so on. the Outside World Special visiting apartments, in close From an international perspective, the proximity to three of the prisons, are Swedish prison policies regarding visits available to facilitate children’s contact and furloughs are quite liberal. Regular with their imprisoned parent. contact with the outside world is officially viewed as an important component in the 4.6 Opening the Prisons treatment of the offender. Inmates are Due to the classification scheme of granted furloughs, or short-term leave, Swedish prisons, that is, security outside of the prison, on a regular basis. classifications I to IV, the only prisons that The average length of a normal furlough is are considered completely open are the three days. Special furloughs are also given category IV facilities. Policies regarding on a case by case basis. Before regular frequency of furloughs are also more liberal furloughs are granted, inmates must ‘prove’ in the open facilities than at the other themselves during various qualifying levels. Provision for day-release are made periods. In 1998, 18,500 normal and 33,000 for prisoners in open prisons in order to special furloughs were granted. pursue outside employment, maintain their regular job, or pursue outside In 1998, it was reported that about 1.3 educational activities. In 1998, about 640 percent of normal furloughs and 0.2 percent such day-release cases were granted. of special furloughs had been abused. Furthermore, in about 17,000 cases, ‘Abused’ means that the specific inmates were allowed to participate in stipulations of the individual furlough were various social activities outside the prison. violated such as drug or alcohol abuse while Another 670 inmates were placed in on furlough or that the inmate did not treatment facilities for drug abusers or in report back to the prison at the end of the foster homes. period of leave, thereby constituting an escape from prison. 4.7 Early Release Inmates, who are serving a time-limited Visits may take place unattended by a sentence of more than 1 month are prison officer. However, the visitor may be conditionally released when 2/3 of the searched prior to the visit as is the inmate sentence has been served. The length of after the visit is concluded, all in an effort the test period, upon early release, is to squelch the importation of drugs and usually commensurate with the length of other unauthorized materials into the the original sentence, but of at least one prison environment. If necessary, prison year. During the test period, the officials and the police perform background conditionally released person can be placed checks on the visitors of inmates to assess under supervision. Prior to January 1, the security threat. In cases where it is 1999, inmates with sentences of more than believed that the character of the visitor is 2 years could be released after 1/2 of the doubtful, that is, he or she may attempt to sentence has been served. This possibility smuggle in contraband for the inmate, is now abolished and the 2/3-rule applies.

300 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

5 Special Categories of Prisoners preparation for release into the community. 5.1 Prisoners in Maximum Security Inmates, who are serving time as s. 7(3) Section 7(3) of the Prison Treatment Act prisoners, are not afforded the same states that any prisoner who is serving a regular furloughs as other prisoners. sentence of at least four years or serving a Section 7(3) prisoners will only receive their sentence of at least two years for either an first furlough after one-quarter of their aggravated drug offence, any attempt at sentence, or two years of their sentence, conspiracy or aggravated drug smuggling, has been served, whichever comes first. must serve the sentence in a closed, Special leave may also be granted to s. 7(3) maximum security national prison, if there prisoners at the discretion of the prison is reasonable cause to believe that the authorities. Those prisoners who would prisoner will attempt to escape before the normally not be given a furlough, that is, minimum sentence is served. This section serious offenders and ‘lifers’, are allowed, of the PTA was promulgated on 1 July 1988 what is known as a ‘breathing space’ leave. after the escape of a Swedish spy who had This type of leave is very restrictive relative been sentenced to life imprisonment. to the normal three-day furlough. A Usually, one-third of those prisoners to prisoner, who receives special leave of this whom s. 7(3) applies are in fact placed in a kind, is accompanied by two prison officers, closed, maximum-security prison. On 1 who are dressed in casual civilian clothes, October 1998 there were a total of 338 for the entire duration of the leave. The ‘Section 7(3) prisoners’. Half of them were duration of this special leave is normally convicted for drug offences. for four hours and can include various activities such as a visit to a shopping mall, Furthermore, s. 20 of the PTA provides a meal in a restaurant or a walk through a for the separation of prisoners in maximum park. Prisoners in maximum security are security. Section 20 states that a prisoner of necessity more strictly controlled than may be separated from the general prison those serving time in medium or open population if: (a) the convicted person is prisons, thereby inevitably reducing the an imminent threat to national security; amount of contact these prisoners have (b) if the inmate seriously disrupts the with the outside world. normal order and general discipline within the prison; (c ) if the inmate continues to Section 7(3) has been criticized as being engage in criminal activity and there is unfair and was changed on 1 January 1999. reason to believe that the inmate will Currently, individualized decisions are attempt to escape; and (d) if it is necessary made for each case, spelling out exactly the to separate the inmate in order to prevent special conditions and restrictions of the criminal activities while in the prison prison term. environment. This section of the PTA also states that, if the duration of the separation 5.2 Long-Term Prisoners from the general prison populace is likely Prisoners who are serving a sentence of to be lengthy, the convict may be placed in at least two years are considered long-term a special maximum-security wing within prisoners in Sweden. A sentence of life can the prison. be commuted, by a pardon, to a fixed term by the government. Once a life sentence is A prisoner in a maximum-security commuted to a fixed term, the normal facility may be transferred to a minimum- provisions of conditional release apply to security facility four months before the end the prisoner once he or she is released. The of the sentence in order to facilitate average period of incarceration of

301 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 prisoners, who have been sentenced to life in Sweden revealed, however, that the imprisonment, is now above 12 years and majority of women prisoners preferred to this period has increased during the last serve time in a mixed facility; 56 percent decade. A sentence of life imprisonment is of the respondents said they preferred imposed for murder and, in exceptional mixed-sex prisons, whilst 16 percent of the cases, for high treason. In the last two respondents preferred women-only decades the number of life sentences has facilities (Somander, 1994). However, from steadily increased (despite a low and stable 1 January 1999, the system of mixed- homicide rate at about 1.2 killings per gender facilities was abolished. Currently, 100,000 population). Between 1988 and a woman prisoner may only in exceptional 1998, 77 ‘lifers’ were admitted to Swedish cases and only with her explicit consent be prisons, of whom approximately one-third placed together with male prisoners in the were foreign citizens. The total number of same prison. ‘lifers’ has increased from 24 on 1 October 1988 to 81 by 1 October 1998. The number In 1998, the majority of female prisoners of prisoners, with a sentence of four years were between 30 and 44 years of age. The or more, has also almost doubled. On 1 two most common crimes for which female March 1989, there were 600 such prisoners inmates had been convicted were theft and and by 1 October 1998 this amount had drug offences. risen to 1,038. Women prisoners are allowed to have 5.3 Women Prisoners their babies with them. In 1998, there were As in most other countries, women 13 such prisoners and the average time constitute a small percentage of the spent in prison was four months. All of the Swedish prison population; in 1998 they children were younger than two years of made up five percent. For a long time, the age. Hinseberg prison was the only all-female facility in the country. In 1989 and 1996, Prison sentences are usually shorter for two additional all-female prison were women than for men. In modern times, up opened, known as Färingsö (near until 1996, no women have been sentenced Stockholm) and Ljustadalen in the north to life imprisonment. According to official of the country. These prison were opened recidivism statistics, there is no difference in response to the growing number of in the recidivism rates of men and women women prisoners, at the Hinseberg facility with a prior criminal record. Depending which is some distance from the Stockholm on the number of prior convictions, it is area, who were eligible to serve their anticipated that between 45 and 90 percent sentences in neighbourhood prisons. In of prisoners, male and female, will be 1997, Hinseberg could accommodate 115 reconvicted3 within three years. prisoners, Färingsö about 30 and Corresponding recidivism rates for persons Ljustadalen 20 prisoners. The remaining who have been fined tend to vary between prisoners were divided between different 20 and 80 percent. Seen from another neighbourhood facilities that accommodate perspective, more than half of the inmates both men and women. has prior prison experience (56 percent in 1998). From an international perspective, of a mixed-gender facility may seem odd and it is, in fact, contrary to international 3 Note, that the reconviction can refer to a minor conventions. A study of women prisoners offence.

302 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

5.4 Juvenile Prisoners Such young offenders are now placed in a In Sweden the age at which criminal home administered by the social responsibility begins is 15 years. According authorities. to law, juveniles below the age of 15 cannot be punished; they are taken care of by the 5.5 Drug Addicts in Prison social authorities. Between the ages of 15 In a European context, Sweden is known and 21, the age of the offender is taken into for its repressive drug policy (Lenke and special consideration for sentencing Ohlson, 1998; Tham, 1998). The drug purposes. Section 7, Chapter 29 of the policy is one of the major explanations for Criminal Code states that particular the many changes of prison conditions and consideration shall be given to the prison policies since the early 1980s. A youthfulness of the offender if an offence growing number of people have been has been committed before the age of 21. sentenced to imprisonment for drug It further states that no person under the offences, the lengths of sentences for drug age of 21 shall be given a sentence of life offences have increased and various imprisonment. In general, the Swedish aspects of the prison regime have been Welfare Service is the agency who is ‘toughened’. responsible for dealing with juvenile offenders and the guidelines for dealing In 1998, almost one third of the prison with such persons are laid down by the inmates were imprisoned for a drug offence. Care of Young Persons Act of 1990 and the This percentage includes cases where the Social Welfare Act of 1980. drug offence was not the principal offence. The number of prisoners who have been The most frequent criminal sanctions convicted of drug related offences is against juveniles are fines, waivers of unknown. It was also reported that 47 prosecution and transfer to the social percent of all prison inmates were classified authorities. In 1998, only 21 persons, aged as inmates with a history of drug addiction between 15 and 17 years, and 544 persons, and that the likelihood of the frequency of aged between 18 and 20 years, were drug addiction of the convicted person imprisoned. Of the 15 to 17 year old increases relative to the length of the category, four boys were sentenced for sentence. For instance, 59 percent of the violence and eight for robbery. Fourteen inmates sentenced to two months or more boys had a prison sentence of up to 6 imprisonment were considered drug months and three boys were sentenced to abusers. Two-thirds of that percentage are more than one year of imprisonment. inmates who are 30 years of age or older.

Special youth prisons were abolished in One of the official policy goals is to have 1980. Instead, one entire prison and one drug-free prisons. Drug use while in prison wing in another prison is set aside for is relatively rare in the category I prisons juvenile offenders. but the incidence of drug use increases with each more lenient prison classification. On 1 January 1999, a new sanction Obviously, this is due to the tighter security called closed youth care became operative. in the category I prisons and the gradual This new sanction, which may be imposed relaxing of security measures in the other for a period between 14 days and four years classes of prisons. Inmates are subjected is intended to replace the relatively rare to frequent urine tests as well as room prison sentences for offenders who commit searches. Even tracker dogs are used. In serious crimes prior to their 18th birthday. 1998, 81,000 urine tests and 66,000 cell

303 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 searches were reported. Positive urine In some cases, where the offence is drug- tests usually indicate the use of cannabis related, the court may hand down a and of amphetamines. sentence of contract treatment, which is a form of civil commitment, in lieu of a prison Other measures used in an effort to term. This sentence is a probation order eliminate drug use within prison are the with a specific order to enroll in a drug searching of personal mail and visitors. treatment and rehabilitation programmes. The prison service also collaborates with In most cases, if this contract is broken, the welfare service to identify and make the court will order the remainder of the contact with the drug users in order to sentence to be served in prison. In 1998, motivate drug users to seek treatment. The 959 contract treatment sentences were Standing Committee on Justice has ordered by the courts, of which the vast recently agreed with the Government’s majority (69 percent) were handed down view that seizures of narcotic drugs in the to offenders between 30 and 59 years of age. prisons and gaols are few in number and The high percentage of older offenders is that the majority of prisons seldom or never due to the fact, that, in Sweden, drug have occasion to report the occurrence of addiction is not an unduly prevalent drug abuse on their premises. phenomenon among younger people.

By law the prison system is not required 5.6 Foreign Nationals in Prison to provide comprehensive drug treatment In 1998, a total of 2,135 foreign programmes. Rather, the prison system nationals, including non-residents, were works with other agencies and private admitted to prison which translates into organizations to arrange and provide drug 22 percent of the total number of people treatment programmes. On 1 October 1998 admitted to prison in 1998. In relation to there were a total of 400 prison beds their total percentage of the general especially reserved for the treatment of population in Sweden, foreign nationals are drug abusers. In other prisons, there are over-represented in the prison system as less structured programmes. In all, 45 well as in judicial statistics (von Hofer et percent of all inmates who were considered al., 1997; Martens, 1997). to be drug abusers participated in some form of anti-drug programmes. About 130 Foreign prisoners are placed among prisoners were placed in drug treatment Swedish prisoners. Special prisons or programmes outside the prisons. wings, exclusively dedicated to foreign prisoners do not exist. Approximately 15 Finally, special ‘drug-free’ sectors have percent of the foreign prisoners are usually been set up within various prisons deported from Sweden after having served throughout the country. These are special their prison sentence. For obvious reasons, sectors within a prison that are officially foreign prisoners who are not permanent designated as being completely drug-free. residents in Sweden, are not granted Inmates may request transfer to such furloughs to the same extent as Swedish sectors only after signing a contract which prisoners are. International agreements affirms their desire to give up drugs and to between Sweden and a number of countries remain drug-free while in the sector. allow the execution of the prison sentence Special rehabilitation and coping in the home country of the sentenced programmes are set up within these special person. sectors in order for the inmate to realize the drug-free goal.

304 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

6 Conclusions marginalized populace. This function is According to the description given above, still very much alive today. According to a one could conclude that the Swedish prison recent level-of-living survey among system is a system in balance. This is also prisoners, only one-third of the interviewed borne out by the fact that, during the 1990s, prisoners had been employed during the Swedish mass media has not focussed on 12 months prior to their admission and only the prisons, but on the police and other half had had some work during the same sectors of the criminal justice system. In period. Almost all prisoners were in debt. contrast with a number of other European Twenty-nine percent had no countries, the prison population in Sweden, accommodation of their own and 15 percent as well as in other Scandinavian countries, of these were totally homeless. About half has remained rather stable during last 30 of the prisoners were living alone. years. In Sweden this was partly Nineteen percent reported alcohol accomplished by the introduction of problems and 47 percent regular drug use. alternatives to imprisonment like civil Forty-nine percent reported psychological commitment (1988), community service problems and 38 percent suffered from (1990) and electronic monitoring (1994). physical ailments. Especially electronic monitoring, which can replace a prison sentence of up to three From a structural perspective, the months, is considered to have saved prison development of (officially registered) space (between 350 and 400 beds per year, criminality and the use of imprisonment see Part III below). During the 1970s and (measured as daily prison population) are 1980s efforts were also made to shorten the seemingly two independent processes in time spent in prisons (for example, shorter Sweden. Even if the data, shown in Figure sentences, deduction of time spent in gaol, 1a & 1b, is partially based on estimates, it conditional release after one-half of the becomes clear that the Swedish prison imposed prison sentence). In the 1990s, population has not been determined by the however, this process has come to a course of (known) criminality. Neither is standstill. Periods of imprisonment appear it possible to apply the widely discussed to be on the increase since prisoners with idea of the ‘stability of punishment’ to the very short sentences, such as drunk Swedish system (Blumstein, 1995). drivers, are granted alternative sanctions and prisoners, sentenced for serious crimes, Whether the fluctuating use of are receiving longer sentences. This imprisonment has influenced the course of process of “bi-furcation” [Bottoms] has been crime, is more difficult to answer. observed in many countries in recent years. Obviously, prior to World War I there is no relationship at all. The prison trend was From a historical perspective, the decreasing, whilst the offence rates Swedish prison system is, as are its remained stable. After World War I, the European counterparts, a rather young picture changed drastically with more or institution. Its rise to prominence can be less stable prison trends, but soaring dated to the first half of the nineteenth offence rates. In the case of theft, which century. At that time, imprisonment was determines the shape of the offence curve substituted for the death penalty and after World War I, a comprehensive corporal punishment. Originally the analysis of the data’s secular trends and prisons, with their roots in the early interruption in trends has shown that the modern workhouses, functioned as an Swedish theft data lends very little support assembly point for the poor, jobless and to the deterrence hypothesis in a

305 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57

Figure 1a Sweden: Number of prisoners (at year-end), 1841-1999. Remand prisoners excluded. Rate per 100,000 of the population.

125

100

75

50

25

0 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Figure 1b Sweden: Number of registered offences against the Criminal Code, 1866-1999. Estimated figures 1866-1949. Rate per 100,000 of the population.

15000

12500

10000

7500

5000

2500

0 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 longitudinal perspective (von Hofer and Bishop, N. (1991). ‘Nyköping Closed Tham, 1989); a result which reminds us of Neighbourhood Prison, Sweden’. In the trivial fact that statistical co-variation Whitfield, D. (ed.). The State of the Prisons does not necessarily imply causality. - 200 Years On. London, New York: Routledge & Keagan Paul. Selectected References in English The Swedish Prison and Probation Service Bishop, N. (1995), ‘Intensive supervision maintains a website at www.kvv.se with electronic monitoring: a Swedish alternative to imprisonment’. Penological [Basic Facts 1997], Basic Facts About Information Bulletin: 8-10. Prison and Probation Service in Sweden. Norrköping: Kriminalvårdsstyrelsen. [A Blumstein, A. (1995). ‘Crime and Swedish government publication.] Punishment in the United States Over 20 Years: A Failure of Deterrence and

306 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

Incapacitation?’. In Wikström, P.O.H., R.V. Lenke, L. and B. Olsson (1998). ‘Swedish Clarke, R.V., and J. McCord (eds.). drug policy in perspective’. In Albrecht, Integrating Crime Prevention Strategies: H.J., A. Kalmthout, and J. Derks (eds.). Propensity and Opportunity. Stockholm: Current and Future Drug Policies in National Council for Crime Prevention. Europe. Problems, Prospects and Research Methods. Freiburg: Max Planck Institute [Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics for International and Comparative 1997]. Kriminalstatistik 1997. Sveriges Criminal Law. officiella statistik. BRÅ-rapport 1998:3. Stockholm: Brottsförebyggande rådet. [A Lundquist, A. (1990). ‘ Recent Swedish Government publication.] Developments in Swedish Criminal Policy’. In Bishop, N. (ed.). Scandinavian Criminal [Correctional Statistics 1997]. Policy & Criminology 1985 90. Stockholm: Kriminalvårdens Officiella Statistik 1997. Scandinavian Research Council for Norrköping: Kriminalvårdsstyrelsen. [A Criminology. Swedish government publication.] Martens, P.L. (1997). ‘Immigrants, Crime, Hofer, H. von and H. Tham (1989). and Criminal Justice in Sweden’. In Tonry, ‘General deterrence in a longitudinal M. (ed.). Ethnicity, Crime, and perspective. A Swedish case: Theft, 1841- Immigration. Comparative and Cross- 1985’. European Sociological Review: 25- National Perspectives. Crime and Justice. 45. A Review of Research. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press. Hofer, H. von, J. Sarnecki, and H. Tham (1997). ‘Minorities, Crime, and Criminal Svensson, B. (1995). Criminal Justice Justice in Sweden’. In Haen Marshall, I. Systems in Sweden. BRÅ-report 1995:1. (ed.). Minorities, Migrants, and Crime. Stockholm: National Council for Crime Diversity and Similarity Across Europe and Prevention. [A Swedish government the United States. Thousands Oaks, publication.] London, New Dehli: Sage Publications. Somander, Lis (1993), Women Prisoners. Jareborg, N. (1995). ‘What Kind of Research paper No. 4. Norrköping: Criminal Law Do We Want?’ . Swedish Prison and Probation Scandinavian Studies in Criminology: 17- Administration. [A Swedish government 36. publication.]

Kriminalvården (no date), The Link to a Tham, H. (1995). ‘From Treatment to Just life free of crime. Norrköping: The Prison Deserts in a Changing Welfare State’. and Probation Administration. [A Swedish Scandinavian Studies in Criminology: 89- government publication.] 122.

Leander, K. (1995). ‘The Normalization of Tham, H. (1998). ‘Swedish Drug Policy - Swedish Prisons’. In Ruggiero, V., M. A Successful Model?’. European Journal Ryan, and J. Sim (eds.). Western European on Criminal Policy and Research: 395-414. Penal Systems. A Critical Anatomy. Thousands Oaks, London, New Dehli: Sage Wikstrom, P.O.H. and L. Dolmen (1998). Publications. World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems: Sweden. [Internet:

307 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/ external forces in modern times, and it has wfbcjswe.txt]. not played an active part in wars since the beginning of the 19th century. Sweden is III. ELECTRONIC MONITORING not prone to violent political upheavals and OF OFFENDERS IN SWEDEN there is no tradition of radical citizens insisting upon civil rights. State abuse of Since 1994, Swedish authorities have power has little direct relevance as a had the power to use electronic monitoring political argument in Sweden. of sentenced offenders. On a trial basis, electronic monitoring was first introduced During the advance work on the first in six court districts and the experiment law, the Justice Ministry in charge made was subsequently extended (1997) to cover express reference to positive experiences the entire country. Since January 1st, 1999 from the United States. There was no it has been a standard tool under the evidence to the contrary from a European Swedish penal system. perspective. The introduction of electronic monitoring was justified with the following 1 Background principle arguments. There was a general The political initiative to introduce consensus that periods in prison tend to electronic monitoring was instigated in have damaging consequences for convicted 1993 by the then Conservative Minister of offenders, and therefore that the use of Justice. Although this introduction had imprisonment ought to be restricted. long been debated among experts and Electronic monitoring was felt to allow a under the previous Social Democrat restriction of the offender’s freedom of government, it had ultimately been movement that closely approximates to rejected. However the impetus behind the imprisonment, thus presenting a suitable trial’s extension in 1997 and the final alternative to (short) prison sentences. establishment of the policy came from the Another point in favour of electronic Social Democrat government. monitoring was the cost-saving element. It was not believed that electronic monitoring In Sweden there is no political dissent harmed the integrity of the person any over the issue of electronic monitoring. more than a full prison sentence. Political parties to both right and left, as well as the Swedish Green party, view The Swedish parliament’s legal electronic monitoring positively. The same committee put forward no objections and is true of the press. Hearings were held, the law was passed unanimously in as is normal in Sweden, prior to the initial principle. The same applied to the later trial introduction in 1993, and only the amendments. The only point of contention Swedish Data Inspection Board voiced was whether a prison sentence of two, three objections in principle, in part because or six months should be the upper limit electronic monitoring was held to be a qualifying for the use of electronic previously unknown intrusion into the monitoring. private domestic sphere. The fact that arguments based on the integrity of the 2 Legal Rulings person carry somewhat less political weight (Lag (1994:451) om intensivövervakning in Sweden than in other European med elektronisk kontroll [Law on intensive countries may in part be due to historical supervision by means of electronic circumstances specific to Sweden. The monitoring]) country has never been occupied by

308 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

It is central to the way that electronic up to a maximum of 3,000 SEK monitoring is framed in Swedish law that (approximately 350 USD). The fee is it does not stand as a sentence in its own payable in advance and is directed to the right, but is formulated as a special state crime victims’ fund (§ 5). implementation of prison sentencing. This construction is to be understood in terms In practice, electronic monitoring is of the Swedish tradition since the penal organized as follows: The local state code came into force in 1946, whereby the probation service (part of the Swedish punitive element of sentencing was Prison and Probation Service) conducts an restricted solely to the withdrawal of investigation of the personal and social personal freedom of movement, in place of circumstances of the convicted person. The other forms of punishment. Approached person must live in appropriate from this perspective, electronic monitoring accommodation with a telephone can be understood as withdrawal of connection. They must also have a place freedom of movement - provided that it is of employment or training, although even implemented in such a way as to voluntary work for an organisation or approximate to a term in an open prison. church group is sufficient. It is a central prerequisite for the monitored person to Under the law currently in force, prison have some form of employment since the sentences of up to three months can be Swedish legislature is expressly against served at home under electronic monitoring turning electronic monitoring into a form instead of in a penal institution. It is not of house arrest. The agreement of other the court of law but the regional adults living in the person’s household correctional authorities that make this must also be secured. The person being decision, in response to an application from monitored makes a commitment to adhere the convicted offender. If this application to the monitoring schedule drawn up and is refused, offenders can appeal to the the conditions imposed therein. All administrative court for a review of the participants in the monitoring programme decision. must normally take part in what is known as a “motivation course” operated by the The duration of electronic monitoring probation service to address the corresponds exactly to the length of the consequences of the crime committed, and prison sentence imposed by the court. The discuss ethical issues, alcohol and drug use core of the ruling is § 3 of the law. and conflict management. Permission to serve the sentence outside a prison is conditional upon a ban on leaving Besides the electronic monitoring the one’s home except at specifically stated person is also subject to repeated times and for specifically stated purposes unannounced personal visits (which may such as paid work, training, medical also take place in the evenings or at treatment, shopping for essentials etc. weekends). Supervision also includes tests Adherence to these regulations is for alcohol using automatic breath testing monitored using electronic equipment. The kits, which transmit results directly down person being monitored must refrain from the telephone line. Urine tests and other consuming alcohol and other drugs direct drug tests are also administered. including banned stimulants (§ 4). Electronic monitoring takes place Furthermore, assuming the person has an according to the “active system” (for details, income during the sentence, a daily fee of see Haverkamp, 1998) whereby the person up to 50 Swedish crowns (SEK) is levied, being monitored wears a transmitter on the

309 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 leg and the signals it constantly emits are Around two thirds of those monitored transmitted to the computer in the were living with a partner in a joint monitoring centre. household. Twenty percent had children under the age of eighteen. More than 90 3 Empirical Data percent of those monitored and over 80 During the trial period, electronic percent of their partners stated that they monitoring has been systematically would prefer electronic monitoring to a evaluated (most recently in BRÅ [1999] prison term if faced with the same choice with English summary). There follows a again in future. Even the quarter of those brief summary of key empirical findings. surveyed who said that they often or nearly always found it “unpleasant” to wear the In 1998 a total of 3,930 persons were electronic “foot shackle” gave this same subject to electronic monitoring, of whom response. The majority of those monitored (in line with expectations) six percent were viewed electronic monitoring as a less women. The majority of them were severe punishment than a prison term, as convicted for drink driving (53 percent). did their partners. Assault was the principle offence in 21 percent of cases, and property offences, the The probation officers interviewed were third highest category, accounted for eight generally very positive about electronic percent. In seven out of ten cases, the term monitoring but wished for improvements of imprisonment was one month or less. In to the technology and better workplace barely ten percent of cases it exceeded two supervision of those being monitored. months (in which case - as for normal prison sentences - release on parole is likely The cost savings for the year 1997 - after two months). One quarter of those depending on the method of calculation - who might legally have been considered for were put at between 70 and 140 million electronic monitoring did not in fact apply SEK (approximately 8 and 16 million for it. Some 15 percent of applications were USD). In that year around 3,800 offenders refused, and around 4,000 people were had been monitored which corresponds to finally monitored. The average age of those some 390 prison places in the year as a monitored was in the range 31-40 years. whole. Furthermore, certain economic Two thirds of them had previous benefits accrue since the person undergoing convictions and somewhat fewer than half electronic monitoring continues in paid had previously served terms of employment. In general it should be noted imprisonment. In 1998 there were just 200 that the cost of a prison place in Sweden cases where monitoring had to be (and Scandinavia) is high in comparison to terminated prematurely. The principal other countries (Council of Europe, 1999). cause was - typically for Sweden - violation For example, the cost per day of a place in of the ban on alcohol consumption. The an open prison was put at 150-185 USD reoffending rate was studied in the years for the years 1997/98. 1994-95. This revealed that the electronically monitored offenders were no The evaluation also revealed that only more or less likely to reoffend than the about half of those being monitored had control group. After three years, 26 percent paid the daily fee of 50 SEK. In total the of the monitored persons were known to victims’ fund benefited to the tune of some have reoffended; in the control group the 350,000 USD in 1997. corresponding rate was 28 percent. On its current scale (approximately

310 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

4,000 persons), electronic monitoring Extension to early release contributes to an annual reduction of the According to the American model, Swedish prison population by between 350 applications of electronic monitoring can and 400 places. be categorised by the “front door” and “back door” principle. Electronic monitoring Two points of criticism were particularly serves on the one hand to curb entries into highlighted in the evaluation mentioned prison (the principle currently adhered to above (BRÅ, 1999). Firstly, supervision in in Sweden) and/or to increase releases from the workplace was inadequate - partly for prison. The “back door” principle thus technical reasons (the electronic entails that part of the prison term is monitoring is inoperative during working served as a remainder period outside the hours), partly for other reasons: the contact prison, under electronic monitoring. persons in the workplace do not necessarily report every infringement of the rules to Electronic monitoring of prison leave the penal authorities. The evaluation The Swedish penal system has long study was critical that the principle of made use of a broadly drawn prison leave equality had not been observed. The rules system. On condition that a positive cost- of electronic monitoring were deemed to benefit analysis is produced, many are in have been applied differently from region favour of electronic monitoring but their to region. For example, the unannounced motives are diverse. On the one hand, the monitoring visits varied between the leave granted to date can be better different districts from 1.8 to 4.4 visits a supervised; on the other hand, certain week. categories of prisoner who were previously unable to benefit from leave, or could do so The judiciary criticised the fact that the only under great restrictions, can be given final decision on whether to impose the opportunity to interrupt their electronic monitoring fell to the sentences. correctional authorities and not to the court. Electronic monitoring was not, in As an alternative to imprisonment on remand their view, a special form of executing a Electronic monitoring is also prison sentence but a standard recommended as an alternative to punishment. In its statement, the Justice imprisonment on remand so long as there Ministry stood by the current solution - is no danger of concealment, and there is above all out of practical considerations - felt to be little risk of the offender’s but left the door open for an amendment absconding. to the law. As a measure against persons (i.e. men) 4 Further Extensions who breach the terms of an injunction As indicated in the introduction, In Sweden it has been permissible since electronic monitoring is not a politically 1988 for the prosecution service to prohibit disputed issue in Sweden. Hence it is no a person for a limited period of time from surprise that a range of ideas and proposals visiting certain other persons, making have been put forward for extending contact with them or following them, electronic monitoring - in some cases insofar as it is likely that this person will beyond the confines of criminal law. The commit crimes against the other person or following proposals are under discussion in harass them in any way. In the Swedish Sweden. Justice Ministry, the legal and organisational basis is currently being

311 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 57 examined for the commencement of aspects. Modern developments in recent electronic monitoring of those who have decades have been characterised by rapid repeatedly violated injunctions. According progress of compulsory pre-trial measures, to investigations by the Swedish Crime and Sweden is not alone in this. In parallel, Prevention Council this would be a general breakthrough has been noted in technically possible. non-penal areas with strategies for monitoring and recording general 5 The Past and the Future segments of the population - in private and I would like to conclude this summary in public - for instance, via camera and of Swedish experiences of electronic television monitoring, (electronic) records, monitoring with a few speculative user profiles, GPS systems and DNA thoughts. In many ways the introduction techniques (see Wright, 1998). of electronic monitoring in Sweden is Modern technology has brought about reminiscent of the introduction of the possibility of comprehensive imprisonment during the first half of the supervision of the individual citizen. In 19th century. Both periods can be drastic terms, the electronic tagging of understood as times of radical societal livestock is already a reality, and similar change. At that time the industrial age was registration of citizens now only remains a dawning; today it is the electronic age. The question of political desirability. How long prison as a “spatial” form of control over the introductory phase will last, and how convicts was something fundamentally all-embracing the ultimate result will be new, just as electronic monitoring is today. are questions that cannot yet be answered. Both are the expression of previously However, electronic monitoring - in one unknown technical innovations. Prison form or another - will be a ubiquitous then and electronic monitoring now have phenomenon in a few generations’ time, not been issues surrounded by political exactly as prisons once became and still dissent (unlike specific implementations remain; this, to me, seems a near certainty. such as the Auburn and Philadelphia systems). What prison has in common with SELECTED REFERENCES electronic monitoring is that they Bishop, Norman (1995), “Intensive incorporate both a progressive and a supervision with electronic monitoring: a repressive potential. The prisons were Swedish alternative to imprisonment”. welcomed and promoted by philanthropists Penological Information Bulletin. Nos. 19 as a humane alternative to corporal and 20 - December 1994-1995, pp. 8-10. punishment, among other things. Long Strasbourg: Council of Europe. sentences and harsh penal measures (including isolation and beatings) were BRÅ (1999), Intensivövervakning med used to appease doubting hard liners. elektronisk kontroll. En utvärdering av Electronic monitoring is prized today as a 1997 och 1998 års riksomfattande superior alternative to short prison försöksverksamhet. BrÅ-Rapport 1994:4. sentences but can equally be used to step Stockholm: Brottsförebyggande rådet/ up repression. The introduction of prisons Fritze. [With English summary] came at a time when new forms of formal social control were being developed. In the Council of Europe (1999), Rapport finale first half of the 19th century organized d’activité. Conseil de coopération police forces came into being, institutional pénologique. CDCP (99) 18 Addendum I. reforms were undertaken and state Strasbourg: Conseil de l’Europe. education was extended, to name but a few

312 115TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS

Haverkamp, Rita (1998), “‘Electronic Monitoring’ . Die elektronische Überwachung von Straffälligen”. Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP 60 (2/98). [http://infolinks.de/cilip/ausgabe/60/ elekhaus.htm]

Haverkamp, Rita (1999), “Intensivüberwachung mit elektornischer Kontrolle - Das schwedische Modell, seine Bedingungen und Ergebnisse” . Bewährungshilfe, Jhrg. 46 (1), S. 51-67.

Wright, Steve (1998), An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control. Working document. Scientific and Technolocial Options Assessment, STOA. Directorate General for Research. PE 166 499. European Parliament. [http:// cryptome.org/stoa-atcp.htm]

313