Life imprisonment in Sweden

Life imprisonment in Sweden is a term of imprisonment for an indeterminate length. It is the most severe punishment available in Sweden. Swedish law states that the longest punishment, other than life imprisonment, is a fixed prison term of 18 years.[1][2] However, a prisoner convicted to life imprisonment may appeal a partially served life sentence to the District Court of Örebro for "fixing" the sentence. Upon success, the sentence is commuted to a fixed sentence of any number of years considered proportionate to the severity of the crime, after which standard Swedish parole regulations apply. Due to new legislation taking effect in January 2022, any offender aged 18 at the commission of the murder can be sentenced to life imprisonment. Previously, an age limit of 21 applied.[3] Prior to 2006, all life sentences were issued without the possibility of parole, although executive clemency was widely issued to commute life sentences to fixed-time sentences in a similar way now exercised by the judiciary. This procedure is the only way a sentence longer than 18 years may be issued in Sweden.

  1. ^ "Sanctions". Kriminalvården (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  2. ^ Nyheter, SVT (2018-06-07). "IN ENGLISH: Rakhmat Akilov sentenced to life imprisonment for terror attack in Stockholm". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2019-06-29. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  3. ^ "Why is Sweden closing its prisons". Erwin James. 1 December 2013. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2016.