The shooting today on Kungsholmen is perhaps more a news item than politics, but in some cases it’s very hard to separate the two. A case in point is this latest crime: Although it might not be gang-related or occupation-related, it’s still worrying that with all the strict gun laws and increased enforcing and pressure on the police and public awareness it still seems, to someone, that it’s of no particular trouble to get a gun and shoot someone where they stand. Policies shaped by the government are clearly not particularly adequately addressing the issues that allow shootings to happen, this often, and with this level of impunity.
With that in mind, it’s time to revisit the full list of measures to combat crime that Sweden’s political parties – minus the Sweden Democrats – are currently discussing. SvD supplied a list in the paper today (svd.se):
- Crown witnesses. Anyone who has watched a single cop drama on TV knows what this is – a suspect can negotiate a reduced charge if they testify against another criminal suspect in a court of law. Everyone hates it that a scumbag gets a reduced charge for narcing on another, but there are plenty of studies that show it’s effective in putting away people that need to be put away.
- Anonymous witnesses. No one wants to testify in person against a violent criminal anymore. Evidence has proven that doing this is often extremely bad for one’s health. And one’s family’s health. And for one’s property. And for one’s well-being as it’s really stressful to look over your shoulder every minute of the day. Allowing people to testify anonymously is one suggestion to make more people willing to testify. So far, it’s had some success in the Netherlands, as well as in Denmark and Norway.
- Out-of-bounds areas (vistelseförbud). This means that there would be designated areas, particular to the person in question, in which they would not be allowed to set foot. This could be the area in which the person earlier committed a crime, for example. It wouldn’t be for forever, but at least would be for a certain amount of time. The point is to make it difficult to go back to the usual criminal activity, and to make it easier to track down the person if need be.
- Stop Shooting projects (sluta skjuta-projekt). This one comes out of the US via Malmö, and the word on its effectiveness there has not yet been tabulated. The idea is that various authorities and welfare agencies share information on certain known, violent criminals in a cooperative effort to divert the criminal paths these people are already on into more wholesome directions. This is the only proposal that the Left Party supports. The other political parties in Sweden are waiting to see what the actual result of these efforts are.
- Obligatory expulsion if convicted of serious violent crime or sexual assault. Just to be clear, this would only apply to citizens of foreign countries. Currently, SvD notes, criminals of this category can avoid being banished by claiming a close connection with Sweden and/or that things would go especially badly for them if they were sent back to their country of origin. This measure is only popular with the party of the Sweden Democrats. If it’s popular with anyone else, they’re keeping quiet about it.
- Taking away the Youth Sentence Rebate. Convicted criminals that are under 21 years old currently get a reduced sentence, because “youth”. The suggestion to take this away is based on the fact that younger and younger people are committing more and more serious crimes. No one actually thinks they’re going to get caught, regardless of whether they’re 8, 18 or 21, so it’s uncertain what deterrent effect this would have.
Taken one-on-one, it is unlikely that a dip in crime would be the result of anyone of these proposals, but together they would certainly send a signal that crime is being taken more seriously than before. If a signal is enough.