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October 28th, 2002, 08:39 AM
Home - Monday 28.10.2002
Criminal law expert warns against tightening sentences
Pressure mounting in favour of more severe penalties
Pekka Koskinen, Professor of criminal law at the University of Helsinki, warns against tightening the measures taken against criminal offenders.
Pressure has been mounting in Finland of late to adopt a tougher criminal policy. This pressure has been applied from the direction of the European Union, and the increase in violent crime has also prompted many citizens to call for longer sentences.
For the past thirty years, Pekka Koskinen has passionately advocated "rational and humane" penal policies. Koskinen has called for reducing the number of inmates and the duration of prison terms, and defended alternative penalties than incarceration.
Now Koskinen, along with many other criminal law experts, is concerned that the liberal criminal policy in Finland, which dates back to the 1960s, is slowly disappearing. "For example, the number of inmates has been growing over the past few years for the first time in a long time."
Many politicians and private citizens have recently begun to ponder the current penal policy in Finland, where the maximum length of a fixed-term jail sentence is twelve years, and those who receive life sentences can be pardoned by the President after the same twelve years.
The main themes of public discussion have been the lengthening of sentences, abandoning community service as a penalty, and discontinuing the practice of short vacations for inmates.
These ideas send cold chills down Koskinen's spine, however. "The number of inmates would go up quickly if sentences were tightened. This just does not feel rational or humane."
For Koskinen, rational and humane means pondering which ways are the best in preventing crime. At the same time, the human rights of the offenders must not be forgotten. "A good social policy is the best criminal policy", Koskinen assures.
Koskinen does see many changes in society and crime that increase the pressure to change penal policies. According to the professor, the most important threat is the increasing division of the population into A and B-class citizens, which leads to harsher attitudes towards those who are in a weaker social standing.
Another clear change is the rise in narcotics offences, which has contributed to the rapidly rising number of Finnish inmates, as well as the number of foreigners in Finnish prisons.
Koskinen points out that drug offenders often receive sentences from the highest end of the spectrum, so there are clear pressures to increase the maximum jail terms.
The measures planned by the EU to combat terrorism have already presented the need to lengthen maximum sentences in Finland. Koskinen feels the supranational decisions of the EU are dangerous.
Crime has never been a central theme for politicians before elections in Finland, but according to Koskinen, there are now signs of a growing significance of penal policy as the Parliamentary elections approach. He does not like the idea, as the discussion will inevitably call for stricter penalties.
"It is so much easier to tighten criminal policies than to liberalise them", Koskinen says. The professor hopes members of Parliament would listen to criminal policy experts, who are most often advocates of the current policy. "Candidates should not take opinions and thoughts only from their voters, but also listen to constructive ideas."
Criminal law expert warns against tightening sentences
Pressure mounting in favour of more severe penalties
Pekka Koskinen, Professor of criminal law at the University of Helsinki, warns against tightening the measures taken against criminal offenders.
Pressure has been mounting in Finland of late to adopt a tougher criminal policy. This pressure has been applied from the direction of the European Union, and the increase in violent crime has also prompted many citizens to call for longer sentences.
For the past thirty years, Pekka Koskinen has passionately advocated "rational and humane" penal policies. Koskinen has called for reducing the number of inmates and the duration of prison terms, and defended alternative penalties than incarceration.
Now Koskinen, along with many other criminal law experts, is concerned that the liberal criminal policy in Finland, which dates back to the 1960s, is slowly disappearing. "For example, the number of inmates has been growing over the past few years for the first time in a long time."
Many politicians and private citizens have recently begun to ponder the current penal policy in Finland, where the maximum length of a fixed-term jail sentence is twelve years, and those who receive life sentences can be pardoned by the President after the same twelve years.
The main themes of public discussion have been the lengthening of sentences, abandoning community service as a penalty, and discontinuing the practice of short vacations for inmates.
These ideas send cold chills down Koskinen's spine, however. "The number of inmates would go up quickly if sentences were tightened. This just does not feel rational or humane."
For Koskinen, rational and humane means pondering which ways are the best in preventing crime. At the same time, the human rights of the offenders must not be forgotten. "A good social policy is the best criminal policy", Koskinen assures.
Koskinen does see many changes in society and crime that increase the pressure to change penal policies. According to the professor, the most important threat is the increasing division of the population into A and B-class citizens, which leads to harsher attitudes towards those who are in a weaker social standing.
Another clear change is the rise in narcotics offences, which has contributed to the rapidly rising number of Finnish inmates, as well as the number of foreigners in Finnish prisons.
Koskinen points out that drug offenders often receive sentences from the highest end of the spectrum, so there are clear pressures to increase the maximum jail terms.
The measures planned by the EU to combat terrorism have already presented the need to lengthen maximum sentences in Finland. Koskinen feels the supranational decisions of the EU are dangerous.
Crime has never been a central theme for politicians before elections in Finland, but according to Koskinen, there are now signs of a growing significance of penal policy as the Parliamentary elections approach. He does not like the idea, as the discussion will inevitably call for stricter penalties.
"It is so much easier to tighten criminal policies than to liberalise them", Koskinen says. The professor hopes members of Parliament would listen to criminal policy experts, who are most often advocates of the current policy. "Candidates should not take opinions and thoughts only from their voters, but also listen to constructive ideas."