M wants detention when violence risk is clear

The Moderates want dangerous men to be involuntarily detained when the risk of violence against women is clear, as part of a new protection law promised before Sweden's 13 September election.

Party leader Ulf Kristersson also proposed mandatory police warnings to potential victims and relatives in serious cases, plus interception of calls and messages to prevent lethal violence.

The proposal could allow intervention before a new crime is committed, but the speech left its legal limits undefined. It did not say whether detention would require a prior conviction, who would order it, what evidence would meet the ‘clear risk’ threshold, how long detention could last or how a decision could be challenged.

Those gaps matter because detention and surveillance restrict liberty and privacy. Sweden's security-detention sentence, effective since April, applies after serious offences and a high risk of reoffending, with court-set time limits and risk assessments. Kristersson did not explain whether the new measure would sit inside or outside that system.

A government inquiry is already examining preventive surveillance tools for serious intimate-partner violence. The Moderates have not published draft legislation, a timetable or a cost estimate.

Sveriges Radio independently confirmed the three proposals. They are campaign pledges, not current law, and would need legislation and parliamentary support after the election.

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