Judicial and Law Enforcement Issues

Legal Procedure and Citizen Safety

Framsókn wants increased funds to be allocated to the investigation and prosecution of cases in order to ensure a normal processing time and satisfactory investigation.

Framsókn wants provisions stipulating the objective liability of the Icelandic state for offences that become statute-barred under the prosecution's hands.

Requirements will be set for those working in the judiciary and the prosecution to regularly seek further education and training regarding new legislation.

Framsókn wants punishments for hate crimes to be clarified. Framsókn wants to clarify government policies to combat hate speech according to Article 233 a of Act No. 19/1940 and emphasises an informed society for all.

Framsókn wants the conditions for legal aid to be relaxed and the financial limits increased in line with subsistence standards or the lowest gross salary in the country. The right to legal aid should also extend to appeal cases at the administrative level. This ensures equal access of citizens to administration and courts.

Framsókn wants to improve the legal status of mediation as a real solution in resolving criminal cases.

Systematic Efforts Against Violence in Society

Framsókn emphasises the continued development of cooperation between the police, health system, and municipalities against domestic violence and stresses that laws on municipal social services should be reviewed with the aim of clarifying the responsibility for providing services due to gender-based violence and domestic violence, ensuring that victims have access to shelter regardless of residence. Furthermore, research and prosecution of sexual offences and violence in close relationships need to be strengthened.

Framsókn wants to legislate the transmission of information between institutions with the aim of increasing interdisciplinary consultation and integrating services to protect and support victims of gender-based and domestic violence.

Framsókn supports the establishment of regional consultations on violence and crime prevention. It is important to strengthen general prevention and education among children and youth regarding risky behaviour. More measures need to be established to prevent violence and risky behaviour among children and youth.

Strong Police and Prosecution Authorities

One of the primary duties of the state is to ensure and protect the safety of everyone against all kinds of threats, violence, and other crimes in society. Framsókn wants to increase funding and manpower for the police, thereby ensuring that the conditions and safety of police officers in carrying out their duties will always be optimal throughout the year and across the country. Framsókn aims to provide the police with the conditions to conduct increased community policing and preventive work. Community policing benefits the whole society, building trust in interactions with the police and aligning with Framsókn's vision that the police should be accessible, trustworthy, and reliable, especially towards children and youth. This vision supports the fundamental principle of Framsókn for a safe society.

There is a strong emphasis on ensuring that the police have the facilities, manpower, and funds to counter organised crime such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, and the growing activities of organised crime gangs. Framsókn is concerned about the increasing armament of youths within criminal organisations, necessitating immediate action against this issue. The police should be granted necessary investigation powers, comparable to those of police in other Nordic countries, with legal security and civil liberties as guiding principles. At the same time, strengthening investigative units must not impact general policing. In conjunction with this, Framsókn considers it necessary to strengthen the operations of the police oversight committee.

Efforts must continue to support children and youth as effectively as possible, including prevention work. Significant steps have already been taken by Framsókn with the enactment of laws on the integration of services for the benefit of children's well-being No. 86/2021. In the systemic change embedded in the laws, it is important to ensure police participation and involvement of the Chief of Police. Framsókn wants to ensure increased cooperation between the police and welfare, school, and leisure services.

Framsókn wants a strong policing plan backed by funding for the education, training, and further training of police officers, thereby further ensuring an increase in police education.

Framsókn believes it is important that no resources are spared when it comes to public safety. Framsókn considers this a key component in the fundamental security of the public as well as the police, to ensure that no cost-cutting demands are placed on the judicial and law enforcement systems in the government's financial plans, which form the basis for the budget. Strengthening the police’s cybercrime unit is necessary to combat crimes online.

Framsókn considers it important to strengthen customs and border controls nationwide in light of the multifaceted threats increasingly facing our society, along with the increased intensity in international organised crime activities. Cooperation across the entire justice system is key in response, prevention, and safety.

Coast Guard

Framsókn wants to ensure that the Coast Guard always has suitable operational conditions so it is better prepared to meet increased security demands in the Arctic region and fulfill its statutory role in the country and its waters.

Framsókn wants increased cooperation between the Coast Guard and the police and to assess whether there is a benefit in integrating their projects. Framsókn also wants to explore the feasibility of moving part of the Coast Guard's training to the police training centre.

Prison Matters

Imprisonment with Rehabilitation at the Forefront

The goal of imprisonment is for those serving sentences to return to society as better citizens. To this end, more measures need to be provided for convicts, as alternative measures to imprisonment, such as mediation, can be more effective, especially for first-time offenders. It is essential for the state to establish resources for individuals who require special secure accommodation after serving their sentences due to mental health issues.

Framsókn wants to work against the return of inmates to prison by implementing measures that have proven successful abroad and support rehabilitation and the reintegration of inmates back into society, such as “EXIT” in Denmark and “Elevator” in Norway. There needs to be secure housing, rehabilitation, and support guaranteed after the sentence is completed.

Framsókn considers it important that the serving of sentences can commence as soon as a judgment is pronounced. Long waiting times to serve a sentence are indefensible. Increased funding is needed for the Prison and Probation Administration, as financial constraints have among other things resulted in 275 sentences lapsing between 2012 and 2022 because it was not possible to call in the convicted offenders to serve their sentences, even though prison cells were not fully utilised.

More resources and incentives need to be provided for inmates to pursue education and, where applicable, rehabilitation during their sentence and ensure conditions for this are guaranteed.

During the serving of sentences, adequate health and treatment resources must be ensured for inmates. Access to mental health services must be particularly ensured for inmates.

It should be aimed that foreign nationals serve Icelandic sentences in their home countries, where applicable. Extradition agreements should be made with as many countries as possible, with human rights and humanitarian considerations held in high regard.

Prisons

Framsókn wants the construction of a new prison to be prioritised while improving the conditions at Litla Hraun and Kvíabryggja in accordance with the administrative review of the National Audit Office: “Prison Administration, Conditions – Rehabilitation – Success” from November 2023.

It is urgent to work on a long-term solution for the accommodation of female and non-binary inmates and to equalise their status within prison walls to ensure the safety, rehabilitation, and welfare of female inmates sentenced to imprisonment. Framsókn considers it important to establish a special accommodation solution and opportunities for work and rehabilitation for female inmates.