STOCKHOLM: Swedish judge Carin Westerlund says she seldom hesitates to take the opportunity of keeping a convict out of prison. “I can choose to hand down a probation or community service sentence rather than condemn someone to prison,” Westerlund, a judge in Uppsala district, said.
Alternative sentences are not available to all offenders, though.
“If we talk about other crimes, like ... burglaries, narcotics or sexual violence, I’d say the sentences haven’t changed in the last ten years,” Westerlund said.
As judges opt for electronic tagging and other sentences that keep inmate numbers down, Sweden is closing prisons — even as crimes rates are rising.
Anyone sentenced to less than six months in jail has the right, since 2005, to request an electronic bracelet rather than incarceration — and many judges have embraced the policy.
Along with its Nordic neighbours, Sweden has one of the world’s lowest incarceration rates half the level of France and ten times less than the United States.
AFP
