A survey by the opinion research institute Sotomo suggests that the need for security in Switzerland has changed, and the middle class in particular could benefit from this.
Voters from all major parties want harsher punishments. But not all for the same crimes.
Switzerland has become more dangerous in the last twenty years. That is why violent criminals should be given longer prison sentences. If there is a high risk of reoffending, they should even be given life sentences. In addition, parole should be more strictly enforced in Switzerland.
Those who agree with these statements tend to be older than 50 and are most likely to vote for a bourgeois party. That is at least what a representative survey on Swiss criminal law suggests.
The opinion research institute Sotomo collected the relevant data on behalf of the “Nebelspalter” between August 22 and 26, 2024. A total of 1,622 people eligible to vote from German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland were surveyed.
The survey is set in a tragic context, without explicitly mentioning it: At the beginning of August, a convicted criminal suffering from paranoid schizophrenia committed a homicide in Basel for the third time in ten years. The alleged perpetrator was on parole at the time of the crime. The case has sparked an intense debate in the Swiss public about the penal system. Politicians are calling for tougher measures and reforms in the justice system. The Basel authorities have announced an external investigation.
Security is and remains an election issue
The Sotomo survey consisted of nine questions about the sense of security and Swiss criminal law. These included basic questions such as: “Do you feel adequately protected from violent crime in Switzerland?”
Towards the end, however, the survey became increasingly more specific, for example when it specifically asked whether participants wanted to overturn the ban on the death penalty or whether they would agree to life imprisonment for high-risk cases.
Basically, the survey allows the following conclusion: The need for security in Switzerland has increased, and harsher punishments are sometimes supported by the majority. The Basel murder may have contributed to this. However, the survey also shows that a majority of respondents said that they felt adequately or fairly adequately protected from violent crime.
What is interesting is the fact that 8 percent of the male respondents, but only half as many – 4 percent – of the female respondents, feel that they are not sufficiently protected. A particularly large number of these people are supporters of the SVP, the party that has been campaigning on the issue for years.
The survey suggests that the SVP will continue to be successful with this course. Overall, 59 percent of respondents said that they felt that Switzerland had become more dangerous over the past twenty years. This feeling is particularly widespread among people over the age of 36. And it is significantly more common among SVP supporters in the study, with 95 percent approval, than among the Greens, with 19 percent.
Tougher penalties, but for what?
In addition to differences, the survey also shows a certain consensus. Across all age groups and party spectrums, the respondents want harsher penalties for rape and sexual assault with a clear majority. A total of 78 percent of respondents were in favor of this. By comparison, 39 percent of respondents called for harsher penalties for illegal immigrants.
When it comes to other crimes, however, the divide between the parties is clearly widening again. More than two thirds of Green and SP voters surveyed are calling for harsher penalties for hate crimes and threats on the internet. Among SVP voters, the figure is 29 percent.
Civil participants placed different emphasis in the survey. Voters from the centre to the SVP wanted harsher penalties for terrorist activities. In the centre camp, 66 percent of respondents agreed with this demand, while among SVP voters it was 78 percent.
What is somewhat surprising is the fact that longer prison sentences for violent criminals have become a majority support, far beyond the bourgeois camp. Traditionally, restrictive law-and-order policies are a feature of right-wing parties. In the Sotomo survey, however, many SP voters also spoke out in favor of harsher sentences.
The Basel case has probably already had an impact on the perception of the Swiss justice system. According to the Sotomo survey, 56 percent of respondents believe that parole should be handled more strictly in Switzerland.
Not surprisingly, supporters of the bourgeois parties are particularly of this opinion. However, the survey shows an interesting trend: At 80 percent, support for this demand is most pronounced among centrist voters. Among SVP voters, support was at 72 percent.
The same picture emerges when asked whether violent criminals with a high risk of recidivism should be locked up for life without parole: among centrist voters, approval was 80 percent, and among SVP voters, 72 percent.
The proposal to remove the ban on the death penalty from the Federal Constitution still does not have majority support. 65 percent of those surveyed are firmly opposed to this. A further 10 percent are “rather” against it. However, among SVP voters, 24 percent welcomed the removal of the ban from the constitution, and a further 12 were at least inclined to do so.
