Gunnar Strömmer has called the penal reform "the largest in modern times".
It includes increased penalties for around fifty crimes, ranging from aggravated assault and aggravated rape to aggravated breaches of confidentiality.
But the biggest change is the proposal for double penalties for gang-related crimes, which is part of the Tidö Agreement. The government is now moving forward with a bill and proposing a new provision to increase penalties targeting all crimes related to criminal networks.
The provision is broad-based and will affect everything from explosions, shootings, drug sales, fraud and crimes targeting the welfare system, says Henrik Vinge (SD), chairman of the Justice Committee.
Depends on the connection
As a starting point, the penalty should be doubled, but depending on how strong the person's connection to the criminal group is, the penalty can be more or less than double. The law should target organized crime but also more loosely organized networks. Even an outsider who takes on assignments from the group can also be affected.
For example, a series of serious frauds committed in a gang context can result in a prison sentence of six years, where the sentence without gang connections would have been three years. And a gang criminal who is guilty of a serious weapons crime risks a prison sentence of eight years or more, says Vinge.
“Should sit inside”
Another part of the change is that repeated aggravated rapes will be punishable by life imprisonment. Repeated cases of particularly serious assault and aggravated rape of children will also be punishable by life imprisonment.
This major restructuring is based on an important shift in perspective - from an overly one-sided focus on the perpetrator to a clearer focus on victims of crime and society's need to protect itself against serious crime, says Gunnar Strömmer.
Simply put, we want criminals to be in prison so that law-abiding people dare to be out, he says.
When the government's investigator, National Police Chief Petra Lundh, presented the investigation, she pointed out that the proposals could come into effect in 2028, but the government now wants them to come into effect on July 3 of this year.
Another proposal is to increase the penalty for multiple crimes, meaning the highest maximum penalty would be doubled.
