ABSTRACT
This chapter explores both further back into history and forward to the present, it is important to add that citizen's reliance on the central state is part of deep and durable tradition in Sweden. The chapter discovers brief history of the evolution of punishment in the community in Sweden. Development in Scandinavian countries has many similarities. Sweden, Denmark and Norway have throughout history made similar changes in more or less the same period there are too many differences between the countries to tell a single story of Scandinavian development. It starts in the early nineteenth century and continues chronologically to the present day. Covering such a long period in a short text demands a choice of what is most important. The chapter contains main material for a publication in Swedish. The more contemporary information has been gathered directly for this chapter through literature, national statistics and information published by the Prison and Probation Service.
