On Tuesday, the so-called "Ghost Man", who has been raping women since the 1980s, was sentenced for another rape.
The sentence was four and a half years in prison – plus 609 days he was conditionally released for.
But it should have been an indeterminate sentence, according to Sven-Erik Alhem, former chief prosecutor and now chairman of the Crime Victim Support.
If someone commits one crime after another, where life imprisonment is not included in the penalty scale or no serious mental disorder has been established, then another form of indeterminate sentence is needed, he says.
This is a typical example of the need for a penalty that does not exist in the current system.
A government investigator proposed last autumn that dangerous repeat offenders should be able to be imprisoned for an indeterminate period, even if life imprisonment is not included in the penalty scale for their crimes.
"Need for social protection"
The proposal has sparked criticism, but Sven-Erik Alhem hopes that the so-called security sentence will be introduced soon.
According to the Prison and Probation Service, it is relatively rare for sex offenders to commit new sex crimes again.
But the security sentence would target precisely the type of offenders that the "Ghost Man" and the "Nytorgs Man" are examples of, says Sven-Erik Alhem.
The latter was convicted in 2021 for a large number of rapes in Stockholm and is now detained suspected of raping a young woman in Skåne's Hörby.
It's not just about the victim's perspective, but there is also a need for social protection when someone takes the liberty of committing one crime after another.
"Built-in safety valve"
Sweden had until 1981 a similar indeterminate sentence, which was abolished after criticism of that type of penalty.
The proposed new security sentence has also been criticized. The Göta Court of Appeal, for example, likens the proposal in its response to "a forced institutionalization, which should not be part of the criminal justice system".
Sven-Erik Alhem, however, disagrees.
It is often forgotten that the security sentence, if it is now implemented, also has a built-in safety valve, he says.
One can have a review initiated after a certain period, in a similar way as with a life sentence or forensic psychiatric care with special release review.
A life sentence is a prison sentence that is not time-limited. It is imposed for particularly serious crimes and is in practice only used for murder.
Those who have served at least ten years of a life sentence can apply to have it converted to a time-limited sentence. A life sentence converted to a time-limited sentence may never be less than 18 years.
In contrast to life imprisonment, the security sentence is proposed to be imposed for preventive purposes. It should be able to be directed against those who have been sentenced to imprisonment of a certain length and have relapsed into crime or who have been convicted of repeated serious criminality. There must also be a significant risk of relapse.
Source: The Prosecutor's Office and SOU 2024:48.
