New article: the criminal policy debate on alcohol smuggling
Cheap Danish spirits could explain alcohol smuggling in the mid-19th century. At least according to members of parliament at the time, according to a new study by Johan Edman, professor at the Department of Criminology.
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In a new article, Edman examines the criminal policy debate on the problems of alcohol smuggling between 1853 and 1875, and how to solve these problems. He has reviewed and examined parliamentary publications from those years to find out how members of parliament discussed the issue.
The fact that Danish spirits were considerably cheaper was one explanation, but high customs duties and inadequate customs controls were also cited as causes of smuggling. The study also notes that the most significant consequences – according to the criminal policy debate – could also be related to economics, at least in the first few decades.
The state lost tax and customs revenue from smuggling, it was argued, while smuggling was likened to theft. It was not until the end of the 1860s that the discussion began to focus on social consequences, such as alcohol-related cases of violence in close relationships.
The study also examines the solutions that politicians of the time had to the problems of alcohol smuggling, and how they argued that their solutions were the best. You can read more about this at the link below.
The article has been published in The Journal of Historical Criminology and is part of the research project The Use of Knowledge in Swedish Criminal Policy 1853–2024.
Is it emotion or knowledge that drives crime policy? This research project will investigate just that. It will also look at whether and how this has changed over time, and provide a historical perspective on current crime policy.
