Working group to look into possibility of reduced sentences in exchange for admission of guilt

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Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green League) has set up a working group to look into the possibility of giving reduced sentences to criminal suspects in exchange for their admissions of guilt.
     
This practice is used for example in Great Britain, and the purpose is to find out whether or not it would also be appropriate in Finland.
      Brax says that this practice could be used for example in complicated economic crimes.
      A confession could speed up some legal proceedings that today are unbearably long in the Finnish experience.
     
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and Finland’s Office of the Prosecutor General have both paid attention to this country’s excessively long trial proceedings.
      In fact, Finland has been given as many as 40 condemnatory decisions by the ECHR over the violation of the European Human Rights Treaty, which guarantees citizens the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.
      Brax stresses that the matter is being investigated but no decisions have been made yet.
      ”It is a noteworthy alternative. Otherwise we would not use our limited resources for such examinations”, Brax argues.
      ”The overall benefit for the society would be that a confession would lead to a slightly reduced sentence”, Brax added.
     
If a perpetrator could get a 12 months’ prison sentence, confessing would reduce the sentence automatically for example by one-fifth. However, the sentence would be reduced only if the court regarded the confession as credible.
      When reporting on the working group set up by Brax, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) also indicated on Thursday that Finland might introduce a practice according to which sentences of minor offences could be reduced by paying a pecuniary compensation.
      This kind of practice is in use for example in Germany. However, Brax said that this piece of YLE’s news was false.
     
Brax points out that the reducing of sentences by paying an amount of money is not in compliance with the Finnish legal usage.
      ”Such a practice would lead to inequality between rich and poor people”, Brax concludes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland again found in violation by European Court of Human Rights (1.4.2009)
  European Court of Human Rights slaps Finland for third time this year over excessively long trial proceedings (22.2.2007)

Links:
  Ministry of Justice
  European Court of Human Rights

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