"Totalrevideringen av strafflagen slutförs"

Den finska strafflagsreformen på slutrakan

Abstract

During the last decades the development of the criminal policy in Finland has differed from the development in many other countries. In Finland the starting-point was a very strict and stern criminal justice system. With a sense of purpose it has been moderated step by step. And - if the results are measured for example in the number of prisoners - the efforts have been successful. The rational development of Finnish criminal policy was also based on wide political consensus. However, quite recently the cold and severe winds, blowing in many other countries, have also touched Finland.

The author wishes that in spite of the foreign impulses the trust is retained in the criminal policy chosen in Finland. Similar self-confidence is to be desired in relation to criminal policy as Finland's former president,

Mr Urho Kekkonen had in relation to general politics in 1960. When Mr Nikita Hrushtshev, leader of a superpower, came to congratulate Finland's president upon his birthday, Mr Kekkonen said: "Let the rest of the world become communistic, but Finland will stick to the traditional Nordic democracy, if the majority of Finnish people so want, as I believe it to do."