Forvaring og utvikling for perioden 2002-2006

Abstract

In Norway, a new law on preventive detention took effect on January 1, 2002. The purpose of the law is to protect the public from offenders who are considered to be dangerous. In principle, there is no upper time limit to a sentence of preventive detention. However, when the court sentences a person to preventive detention, it has to set a time frame which cannot exceed 21 years. The court can prolong the sentence at a later date if it considers the convicted person still too dangerous for release. This study focuses on legal usage with respect to the new law on preventive detention. During the four years since the law came into effect, the courts have passed 100 sentences of preventive detention. Six of these sentences have been applied to women. The study shows that more sentences of preventive detention have been passed than one should expect. Preventive detention is primarily used to punish serious offences like murder and sexually related crimes. So far, 26 persons have been released or released on parole from preventive detention. According to current regulations, a person can be released on parole from preventive detention when he or she is no longer considered a danger to the public. In other words, persons serving preventive detention have to change during imprisonment. Legal practice sometimes differs from the regulations in this matter, and some prisoners have been released on parole based on a court ruling that the prison has nothing more to offer them in terms of possibilities for change. So far, two persons have had their sentences prolonged by two years.