The government and the Sweden Democrats want to implement a comprehensive overhaul of the Swedish sentencing system. Proposals include the abolition of sentence reductions for multiple offenses, more and longer prison sentences, and a model where the three most serious crimes are to be counted in full. The Social Democrats now want the parliament to reject the entire bill.

On June 30, the government submitted the bill A New Criminal Sentencing System, described as the final part of the Tidö Parties’ major criminal justice reform. The aim is said to be for sentences to better reflect the seriousness of the crimes, strengthen the perspective of crime victims, and improve protection for society. The reform involves sweeping changes to both how the length of sentences is determined and what penalties the courts can impose.

A central element is the abolition of so-called sentence reductions for multiple offenses. Instead, the starting point will be that the punishment for each crime is added together and the sentence must at least correspond to the sum for the three most serious offenses. For an offender convicted of three rapes, each with a penalty value of three years, the new sentence could thus be nine years in prison, compared to about five years under the current model. Repeated aggravated rapes could, according to the government, in some cases lead to life imprisonment.

The government also wants to introduce conditional imprisonment as a replacement for current conditional sentences and probation. The court is to first set a prison term, but in less serious cases can decide that it is served conditionally and combined, for example, with community service, supervision, or day-fines. The presumption against prison is to be removed, the entire range of penalties is to be used more fully, and several of today’s options to reduce sentences on so-called humanitarian grounds are to be abolished.

However, the bill does not specify a fixed date for when the reform should take effect. The legal amendments are proposed to enter into force on a date decided by the government, as the Prison and Probation Service must first expand its capacity. In its documentation, the Prison and Probation Service estimates that the entire reform can be managed no earlier than around 2040. The total costs are projected to be very large, with just the agency’s annual spending estimated to increase by around SEK 41 billion.

The Social Democrats Want to Reject the Entire Reform

In a corresponding motion, Social Democratic justice spokesperson Teresa Carvalho and six other S MPs demand that parliament reject the bill as a whole. The party refers to the costs, the lack of prison places, and the absence of a set implementation date. The Social Democrats believe criminal policy should instead be conducted through what the party calls “precision repression,” focusing resources on issues such as gang crime, organized crime, men’s violence against women, and sexual abuse of children.

A rejection simultaneously means that the Social Democrats are saying no to the whole package—including the government’s proposal to abolish the sentence reduction for multiple offenses. The party’s stance thus means retaining the current system, where, for example, a person convicted of three rapes can receive about five years in prison instead of nine.

Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer has accused the Social Democrats of abandoning the victims’ perspective and dismissed the party’s objections concerning financing and timelines as “smoke screens.”

‘Sosse Discount’ Counter

Online, many are reacting to the Social Democrats’ position. The Sweden Democrats have set up a counter designed to show how much sentence reduction serious offenders would receive if the Social Democrats win the election and the current sentence reduction rules are not abolished.

For example, a person who committed aggravated assault, aggravated rape, and aggravated criminal damage would receive 8.5 years’ sentence reduction with the Social Democrats’ policy: instead of 12.5 years in prison, it would become only 4 years.

Author Julia Ceasar believes that it is “excellent that the Social Democrats are showing what they want, so that voters know what to expect if the red-greens win the election.”

Kristina Birkesten reminds us about the situation under the Social Democrats:

The Social Democrats have governed Sweden for 68 of the past 80 years and it has been legal to:
* marry your cousin (until 1/7 2026)
* escape from prison (until 2/7 2026),
* export stolen goods out of the country (until 1/9 2025)
And as a major customer of the correctional system you received a sentence reduction for multiple offenses (until 1/8 2026)

Thank you to the government for changing this and much more