Nordic Criminal Justice in a Global Context: Practices and Promotion of Exceptionalism

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1 The criticism is brought out in the introduction of the book written by Mikkel Jarle Christensen, Kjersti Lohne and Magnus Hörnqvist, ‘Introduction: Nordic criminal justice in a global context’, see p. 4–5 and fns.

2 Sausdal refers to Nadia Kaneva, ‘Simulation nations: Nation brands and Baudrillard’s theory of media’ (2018) European Journal of Cultural Studies 21(5).

3 The most obvious downside is the way in which migrants are treated within the criminal justice systems and beyond, see e.g., Vanessa Barker, ‘Nordic Exceptionalism Revisited: Explaining the Paradox of a Janus-Faced Penal Regime’ (2013) Theoretical Criminology 17 no. 1; Mary Bosworth, ‘Penal Humanitarianism? Sovereign Power in an Era of Mass Migration’ (2017) New Criminal Law Review 20.1.

4 See e.g., Nils Jareborg, ‘The Coherence of the Penal System’ in Nils Jareborg, Essays in Criminal Law (Iustus 1988); Raimo Lahti, ‘Towards a Rational and Humane Criminal Policy: Trends in Scandinavian Penal Thinking’ (2000) Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 1(2); Kimmo Nuotio, ‘The Rationale of the Nordic Penal Policy Compared with the European Approach’ in Kimmo Nuotio (ed), Festschrift in Honour of Raimo Lahti (Forum Iuris 2007); Raimo Lahti, ‘Straffrätten på 2020-talet – från Cesare Beccarias Om brott och straff (1764) till en allt mer internationell och europeisk straffrätt’ (2015) Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab 102(3); Tapio Lappi-Seppälä, ‘Humane Neoclassicism: Proportionality and Other Values in Nordic Sentencing’ in Michael Tonry (ed), Of One-Eyed and Toothless Miscreants: Making the Punishment Fit the Crime? (Oxford University Press 2019).

5 The fear arises from my recent empirical legal research on the crimes of defamation and human trafficking: according to the research the application and interpretation of criminal law in Finland is not foreseeable by any means. Kristiina Koivukari and Sara Lehtilä, ’Sattumaa vai yhtenäinen ja perusteltu päätöskäytäntö? Esitutkinnan rajoittaminen vähäisyys- ja kustannusperusteilla kunnianloukkausrikosepäilyissä’ in Janne Kaisto (ed), Oikeustiede-Jurisprudentia-vuosikirja LV:2022 (Suomalainen Lakimiesyhdistys 2022); Kristiina Koivukari and others, Ihmiskauppa ja sen lähirikokset: Säännösten soveltamiskäytäntö (Publications of the Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities 2022:18, Prime Minister’s Office 2022) <https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/163890/VNTEAS_2022_18.pdf> accessed 2 August 2023