Are Nordic Countries Getting tough on crime? (Helsinki 1-2 November 2016)

The aim of the working group was to discuss and compare recent developments in crime control in the Nordic countries: are they getting tougher on crime? Has the ’refugee crisis’ had impact on these developments? Participants were asked to give a 20-30 min presentation addressing one or more of the following questions: what impact has the recent changed social and political context, and the refugee crisis in particular had for criminal policy and crime control? What kinds of reforms, or proposals for such, have been introduced on the level of politics, policy, law-making or enforcement? Who have been the targets of control? Have these actions or initiatives for action been analyzed by researchers?

The Council Member arranging the meeting was Anne Alvesalo-Kuusi from Finland.

Below please find the presentations from the working group meeting :

• Anne Alvesalo-Kuusi: Are Nordic Countries Getting tough on crime? 
• Helgi Gunnlaugsson: How Did the Icelandic Criminal Justice System Respond to the Banking Collapse in 2008? 
• Linda Kjaer Minke and Annette Olesen: From Crime Control to Migration Control: Facing Refugees as the Dangerous Other
• Hanna Malik: Criminal Policy in Poland in the light of recent political changes
• Henrik Tham: Processes associated with the punitive turn in Swedish criminal policy
• Klara Hermansson: The symbolic meaning of the Swedish concept “trygghet” – between welfare and punishment
• Tapio Lappi-Seppälä: Are the Nordics Getting Tough on Crime? – And if so, how to measure these changes?  
• Päivi Honkatukia and Riikka Kotanen: Crime Victims in the Finnish Criminal Political Thinking – Three Examples
• Nicolay B Johansen: An increase in the Us-Them divide in penal policy and related policy areas