Politik och expertis: En studie av politikers förhållande till expertkunskap inför beslutet att avskaffa straffrabatten vid allvarlig brottslighet

Sammanfattning: There is a consensus among criminologists that an increase in the severity of punishments does not lead to a decrease of crime rates. Despite this fact many western countries have imposed more severe punishments over the last decades. The aim of this essay is to study the relationship between expertise and politics. I will use a content analysis to examine how the politicians in Sweden related to expert knowledge in the political debate concerning the decision to remove the reduction of punishment for young adults who commit severe crimes. The decision was reached the 17th of November 2021. The expert knowledge that will be used as a reference point consists of a governmental investigation and the consultation responses to this investigation. The conclusion of the study is that the politicians generally do not relate to expert knowledge when debating the issue, and that the experts have had a limited influence over the decision.The essay also consists of a theoretical discussion relating to the idea that politicians make decisions about values and goals, while experts contribute with neutral information about how to reach these goals. Here the conclusion is that such division of labor is not possible to maintain.