Swedish government to introduce higher sentences in push against crime

STOCKHOLM, June 30 (Reuters) - ‌The Swedish government ​said ​on Tuesday it would toughen criminal sentencing ahead of a September election, with legislation to ‌push courts to more often use the higher ⁠end of the punishment scale and impose longer sentences for serial ‌offenders.

Sweden has grappled with a ‌gang crime wave for the past two decades and, although shootings have come down significantly in the ​last four years, crime is still one of the most important issues for voters.

The Nordic nation has had ⁠a longstanding tradition of not adding up all the separate offences for ​a person convicted for several crimes, instead basing the sentence on the most serious crimes.

"That means ​that the fourth or fifth ‌fraud and so on has, in practice, been free from punishment," Minister of Justice Gunnar ⁠Strommer told a press conference, adding that, under the new proposal, all committed crimes would be taken into consideration.

"Our expectation ⁠is that this change will mean significantly longer sentences for serial ​offenders," Strommer said.

The government also said courts would no longer take mitigating circumstances, such as loss of employment, into consideration to the ‌same extent when handing down sentences.

Sweden's right-wing government, which trails significantly in the polls, ‌has introduced a large number of measures, including harsher sentences ⁠for gang crimes, increased ‌electronic surveillance powers ​for police and prison for offenders as young as 14.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Alex ‌Richardson)

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