Forvaring - erfaringer og utfordringer

Abstract

This publication is a result of a conference about preventive detention that took place at The Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy June 12, 2007. The purpose of the conference was to gather the different services that are involved in the criminal proceedings of preventive detention – the police, the prosecuting authority, the courts, the experts on forensic psychiatry, the lawyers, the correctional services and those who are convicted to preventive detention – in order to create a dialogue. Research over the years the law of preventive detention has existed, has revealed a need for such a dialogue. Nearly 150 persons from different services participated at the conference, which shows that there is a great interest in the subject. The title “Preventive detention – experiences and challenges” reflects that the papers presented at the conference and which are published in this report, focus on the past as well as the future. The report presents the experiences and challenges of preventive detention from different stands: the political, the forensic psychiatry, the courts, the prisons, the probation service, the prosecuting authority, the lawyers and the convicted. The new law on preventive detention took effect on January 1, 2002. The purpose of the law is to protect the public from offenders that are considered to be dangerous. In principle, there is no upper time limit to a preventive detention sentence. However, when the court convicts a person to preventive detention it has to set a time frame, which cannot exceed 21 years. The court can prolong the sentence, if it considers the convicted person to be still too dangerous to release.