Types
of penalties
Range
of penalties.
The main types of penalties for criminal actions are imprisonment,
social service, and fines. The maximum prison sentence
is 21 years, of which approximately one such sentence
is imposed each year. Crimes that are punished by imprisonment
of up to 21 years include murder, rape and serious drug
offences.
Offenders
can also receive a suspended prison sentence (betinget
dom). Suspended prison sentences are usually given to
young and/or first-time offenders for lesser crimes. In
1990, 1 in 3 felonies was punished with a suspended prison
sentences, either alone or in addition to payment of fines
Community service involves an offender doing unpaid community
work for a set time period, with a maximum of 360 hours.
It is usually imposed for crimes, which can be punished
by up to 1 year in prison. It can be combined with payment
of fines and, in special circumstances, with a short period
of imprisonment. A subsidiary term of imprisonment (subsidioer
fengselsstraff) is usually fixed at the same time that
a penalty involving community service and/or payment of
a fine is imposed. The subsidiary term of imprisonment
takes effect if the community service is not carried out
satisfactorily or the fine is not paid.
Another
type of penalty is detention (hefte), a form of custodia
honesta rarely applied and dropped in the proposed new
Penal Code. However, the proposed Code retains the penalty
of preventive detention (forvaring). Persons who have
repeatedly committed felonies of a serious nature and
whom a court suspects will commit such crimes once released
from prison can be held back in preventive detention.
Other penalties which are retained in the proposed new
Code include: forfeiture of public and/or private office;
loss of the right to vote and to engage in certain enterprises;
and prohibition from entering or staying in certain areas.
Death
penalty.
There is no death penalty.
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