Emeritus professor Jukka Kekkonen is shocked by Prime Minister Sanna Marini’s statements. According to him, Finland’s punishment practice is at the European average level, but in some respects it is worth discussing strictures.
Legal history professor emeritus Jukka Kekkonen says that he is a slightly confused prime minister Sanna Marini (sd) from the statement that the criminal justice scale of punishment in Finland is mild.
Kekkonen refers to the discussion event organized in connection with the Flow festivals in Helsinki on Friday, where Marin was present.
The panelists were asked whether the maximum penalties for piracy crimes should be raised in Finland to the same level as in Sweden and Denmark.
According to Ilta-Sanom Marin did not answer this directly, but commented more generally on the level of punishments.
“I would be ready to raise the penalty scale of the criminal law in general. In Finland, the punishments are quite light,” said Marin, according to Ilta-Sanomi.
Kekkonen would not have expected to hear such a thing from the Prime Minister.
“I was downright shocked by the ignorance and nasty populism related to the statement, which is often associated with penal political views,” says Kekkonen, who has discussed the level of punishment in many of his books.
“I was really surprised, because I consider Marin to be a competent, intelligent and capable person, so I missed reading this statement.”
Kekkonen says that it is very problematic to talk about punishments in general.
“Marin used the expression “penalty scale” of the criminal law in the unit. There are numerous punishment scales in the Criminal Code. There are quite big differences between them. Besides, from the point of view of penal practice, it is not so much the scale that is essential, but the practice of the courts.”
Kekkonen says that Finland is quite average in terms of punishment scales in Europe. Historically, Finland has had a rather harsh punishment practice, and the punishment scales have also been partly strict until the 1970s and 1980s.
“Since then, Finland has come to the Nordic line and settled in the middle European level. The punishment line is best measured by the number of prisoners. In relation to one hundred thousand inhabitants, it is one of the lowest in Europe.”
Kekkonen thinks it is a good thing that Finland is in the same reference group as the Nordic countries, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Kekkonen however, there are types of crimes in Finland for which it would be good to discuss whether the punishments should be made tougher.
Kekkonen says that in the 1990s in Finland, people started talking about too light punishments for crimes related to physical integrity and sexual self-determination.
“I shared then and still share concern about the sentencing practices for these crimes.”
Kekkonen says that regarding these, the rules have already been tightened in Finland.
“Usually the most important thing is the lower limit. In Finland and elsewhere, the scales are often wide, but punishments are given at the lower end of the scale.”
Kekkonen reminds that the courts are independent and practices do not change quickly.
He says tougher penalties can have an effect, but the effect is usually very short-lived.
“It also depends a lot on the type of crime. It’s a different matter whether we’re talking about murders or traffic violations.”
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