Nordic Sentencing

Abstract

Broad harmony and much commonality characterize the basic principles and core priorities of the sentencing systems of the four larger Nordic countries, notwithstanding rich diversity in details. Since 1960, there have been three distinctive phases in criminal justice policy and associated law reforms. A liberal period of “human and rational penal policy” from the late 1960s to early 1990s reformulated principles of penological thinking and resulted, among other things, in a radical reduction in the use of imprisonment in Finland. A second phase beginning in the mid-1990s, the “punitive turn—Nordic style,” with Sweden playing the central role, included a gradual politicization of criminal justice policy and intensification in penal control especially in relation to drugs, violence, and sexual offenses. Political and police trends in the 2000s have been somewhat contradictory but include success in controlling the use of imprisonment and expanding the use of community penalties. Imprisonment rates rose slightly in the late 1990s but since 2005 have been either stable or declining. There is rich diversity in details among the Nordic countries but also broad harmony in basic principles and priorities.