Thursday, April 03, 2008

The Swedish Justice System Sucks. Swedish Ice Cream Does Not.

Sometimes this country drives me nuts. Like over the last couple of days. Because some of the news is just so mind boggling that I almost have to laugh to make myself feel better. Otherwise it would just be frightening.

This week a 59 year old man who has admitted to downloading child porn since the ‘90s was sentenced to prison. He likes 12 year olds he has said. He had about two to three million pictures. That’s 2,000,000 to 3,000,000. That’s a lot of zeroes. And is disgusting. And he should be sentenced to prison. They got that part right at least. Unfortunately he was only sentenced to six months prison. Because I’m sure six months without child porn will do the trick. Considering he’s been downloading it for nearly two decades.

The Swedes are big on the idea of a prison being used to help people. To make them a better person. To prepare them for society. It’s a lovely ideal. Unfortunately, they seem to give themselves too much credit. Because of they can cure a child porn addict (remember those 2-3 million pictures?) they can cure anyone. And are probably committing a crime by not taking their healing powers on tour ridding the world of all evil.

I heard about this first on good old SVR and was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know the other shoe that complains about the light sentence. The other shoe asking how a man who has been downloading this sort of stuff for almost 20 years will stop after six months. That shoe never dropped. Instead everyone just seemed pleased that he was sentenced to prison in the first place. Good times here in the Swedish justice system.

On a more positive note though I had some delicious Swedish ice cream with DCP today. I had an 88 for those of you wondering. It's a wonder there aren't more fat Swedes considering how good the candy and ice cream is in this country. You would think I would get tired of it but here it is ten months later and I'm still shoving it in my face...

Welcome to Sweden.

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30 comments:

  1. I agree with you on the point that the Swedish justice system is way to light, lame and lazy. BUT I do not agree the point that prison is for suffering - like that would make you a better person?
    It's always difficult to discuss prisons and the idea of how criminals should be treated, since America have to many bad examples on how people should Not be treated. Many of them does not even follow half of the human rights declaration, and 16 year olds beeing sent to prison for more than 7 years just makes me sick.

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  2. it should be "It's always difficult to discuss prisons and the idea of how criminals should be treated (with an American)..."

    Sorry :)

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  3. Well said. Keep them in prison ((until)) they are fully rehabbed. Then keep them on probation ((until)) life is over.

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  4. the prison thing is kind of tought to discuss sometimes depending on where you are from. but I think that most people would agree that this six months for this guy is just kind of ridiculous.

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  5. This subject is so risky that I couldn't take it up. Glad you did though. I think they should hunt down the uploaders instead of downloaders, it would be more effective. I hope the man will be prohibited from using pc's ever again.

    Ice-cream is tasty indeed. I can't find the connection here, but it may come to me eventually :)

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  6. Smek This - That's an excellent idea...never allowed to use PC's again.

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  7. He only got six months because there was a lack of evidence that he had been downloading it.

    He claimed that someone stored the porn on his computer and if it was so ,it´s hard to sentenced him more than six months.

    Ofcouse i agree with you that childporn is disgusting, but if you where find with millions of childporn pictures on your computer would it be right to sentence you to more than six months?

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  8. @smek - its true... the uploaders would probably be more effective. take the swedish way of attacking prostitution and turn it on child porn. and I love the pc idea.

    @mange... - the lack of evidence is fightening. thats just a bad prosecuting lawyer then. because no one can sneak oto someone elses computer and download two to three million pictures without the owner of the computer noticing. thats just ridiculous.

    and yeah I think it is more than right to sentence someone with millions of pictures to more than 6 months. doesnt matter who it is.

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  9. No that´s not impossible.
    You can save 5 million picture (size 400 *600 ) in 26.132 gigabyte if the pictures is compressed in ex winrar.
    So if the owner had a 500 gigabyte harddrive it wouldn´t be so easy to spot.

    And how do i know this?
    I go the computer and networking program in Uppsala university.

    One year left :D

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  10. OK, If you don't realize that someone other than yourself is downloading that many pictures on your computer, you are so lost that maybe you should join this freak in the prison. Ther is no reason we should feel sorry for a person like this.

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  11. Smek this - What about Macs then? ok, bad joke, sorry...

    But, seriously, I think you're completely right about going for the uploaders (and may I add, more importantly the makers of the porn movie, they who abuse the children in the videos) instead of the downloaders.

    hairy - What's the point of sending him to prison, anyway? He should be sent to a mental clinic where he can get rid of his desire for children. That would be better because, even though you think that Swedes see prisons more as a way of making the prisoners better persons than in USA, for example, that's not going to happen in prison. He should be sent to intensive mental care for a long time.

    As much as I think it's discusting to whatch children porn the children don't get hurt from the whatching of the porn movies but the making of them, so, as Smek this said, that's what you should be dealing with foremost. Besides, sending him to prison doesn't do any good, in my opinion, even if it's more than six months. When he gets out again he will still be a pedophile. If he's sen to intensive mental care for some years he will hopefully be "cured" or at least, know how to deal with his sexual desires for children.

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  12. Then you are toltaly stupid and don´t know any thing about computers.

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  13. ^^^^^^
    ooooh you told him aright...

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  14. Hey Mangy--I don't think that this has anything to do with know about computers or not--it's math--let just say that they guy had 2 million pictures on his computer and who ever downloaded the pictures didn't have to search for them, but only had to download them and that they were't too big and he had a good connection (5 seconds per picture--remember this is not time for anything else), we are still talking about 2,500+ HOURS--that is a work year. So while it is possible, it's not very plausible that you could not notice someone downloading 40+ hours per week for a whole year on your computer. I'm sure you'll come back with another clever retort about how this could have happened while the guy was working, but again not real likely.

    For guys like this prison should be punitive, I know a bunch of people will disagree with me and that's OK.

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  15. Mange - Kom igen... That's not going to happen. While it is possible, I guess, it's far from believable. Plus Hairy Swede said he had said he liked little boys or something like that. "They're not mine" is a typical excuse. Even if you know a lot about computers you're stupid to believe that that's a believable explanation.

    John - Why should he be punished. While he has sexual desires of minors he hasn't committed any sex crime against minors (at least, not judging from what hairy has written). Punishing him is like punishing someone who likes to kill people but who hasn't done it, just watched videos of other people doing it. He should be sent to a mental institution so he can get sane, not sent to prison where he can get "punished". The makers of the movies should be sent to jail, though, of course...

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  16. this discussions eems to be doing just fine without me but I thought I would chime in.

    in regards to the computer thing. even if it might be possible to sneak two million pictures onto someones computer it is unlikely. very very unlikely. plus, this guy admitted to having the pictures. so he knew about them. and chose not to get rid of them.

    and in regards to the punishment. Im all for punishing the supply and the demand side of crimes. drug users and drug sellers. so it follows that I think the downloader should be punished as well as the uploader.

    so there's my two cents.

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  17. I didn´t talk about this just this person, i talked about all the people who gets accused for downloading childporn.

    You must let you think that judge thinks off all the possible possibilitys, and don´t let the hate overthrow him.

    hairy swede i didn´t say that i don´t think this person is responsible for this act of crime.

    I hate childporn downloaders/uploaders just as much like you.

    Peace...I'am out

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  18. Fair enough, both of you.

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  19. You call yourself a republican but ate an "88:an" ice cream? Don't you know that 88:an is the Nazi Ice Cream!?

    http://commercial-archive.com/content/ice-cream-names-cause-debate-are-names-racist-or-nazi-codewords


    Welcome to Sweden...where everyone is a racist whether they know it or not.

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  20. well if you ask most Americans Im pretty sure they would see republicans are more likely to be racist. so shouldnt an 88 be the choice of ice cream for republicans?

    but actually reading that link, it seems to suggest that the 88 was called that well before the idea of 88 referecning the Nazi party. sounds like a buch of political correct nonsense to me.

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  21. Now I'm confused. Not even a dead-cat-bounce. Seems like my sence of humour is only acknowledged as one by me, myself and I. Maybe that's the reason why everyone looks at me like I'm crazy when I'm laughing by myself? :)

    Actually, I think that ice cream debacle went far beyond political correctness - far into the land of the Absurd. Of course, political correctness can in-itself be pretty absurd some times. But that one was too absurd to cause even the most Swedish of Swedes to cover in guilt.

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  22. not at all, I quite enjoyed it. I might have even chuckled while reading the article. or at least shook my head.

    because it was ridiculous. but a lot of political correctness can venture into the absurd.

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  23. I grew up in Sweden, lived there for 28 years and graduated from Uppsala University with an a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

    I have never been so happy as I was the day I got a permanent residency in the US.

    Sweden Sucks, not only because the justice system is a joke but mainly due to the lack of critical thinking amongst the population.

    The lame brainwashed socialists who have been fed with, and digested socialist propaganda for years truly believe that Sweden is a paradise on earth where in reality its just a freaking pond full of duck shit.

    Sweden, Fuck you very much I will never come back!

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  24. sorry Sandra, I have to disagree with you there. we should not deprave these people of their human rights. BUT, the point prison IS for suffering no matter how you don't like it. no it won't make you a better person. but it won't make the criminal lesser of a human. prison aren't hotels.

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  25. and thats the thing, prison is punishment. yeah rehabilitation is important, yeah we need to make sure people aren't deprived of basic human rights, but prison is punishment. and it seems that sometimes Sweden forgets that.

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  26. Lars, I was born in mid 1980 so I never really experienced the time when the social democrats dominated Sweden. Maybe we were all brainwashed? Or maybe we just had come to a different conclusion then the Americans? And can you honestly be sure that the Americans haven't been brainwashed as well?

    Anyway... nowadays both Sweden and America seems to be willing (or at least forced) to into trying new things. Sweden seems to become more and more privetized and America seems to take babysteps towards a more socialized state. So the Sweden that exist now doesn't resemble the Sweden you left behind.

    I'm glad that you've found a country you truely love. If you had loved Sweden you would have stayed despite its faults and hopefully you would have fought to correct its mistakes. But I do think that you should be bit more grateful towards Sweden then you are now. Even if you didn't agree with its politics and opinions; Sweden and it's society did educate you and supported you and your family.

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  27. The Swedish method of attempting to eradicate prostitution deserves a blog post of its own.

    Sweden has made it legal to be a prostitute, but not legal to patronize one.

    Well, if you can't actually find any customers... what's the point of being a prostitute then?

    That's like saying it's legal to sell ice cream, but not legal for anyone to buy it.

    It seems to me that Swedes have confused prostitution with trafficking.

    Traffiking means: people from being imported from other countries often under false pretenses and then sold into prostitution.

    Everyone agrees trafficking is evil and should be stamped out. But Swedish law assumes that all prostitution is a form of trafficking and should therefore be stamped out.

    But trafficking is not the same thing as prostitution.

    The 'Swedish model' is to prosecute people (mostly men) who patronize prostitutes.

    The theory is that nobody in their right mind would want to be a prostitute, therefore men are exploiting them.

    But some people do choose to be prostitutes. Mainly because you can make 10 times more than you can make on a normal job. (I'm not talking about drug addicts and the like.)

    So you have prostitutes charging $500-$1000 or more to someone who is desperate for their services.

    And yet it's the prostitute who is considered 'exploited'.

    In any case, even if you think men are guilty of a crime for patronizing someone who is willingly providing a service (again, I am not talking about people who are forced into this -- that is indeed a heinous crime), doesn't this law end up punishing women who are trying to make a living?

    Anyway, I suggest a new blog post on this topic. It is bound to stir up some lively discussion.

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  28. There's a lot of research being done on this. Unfortunately, I'm not at all up to speed with the issues. I'm sure someone is tackling this issue in a much more nuanced way than my smartass commentary would be able to do.

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