Currently first offenders usually serve just half of their sentence with repeat offenders staying locked up for two-thirds of their sentences. In Finland, a life sentence is, on average, 13.5 years with a minimum of 12 years imprisonment.
Paatero's comments come a week after three people were killed in a shooting incident at a hamburger restaurant in Porvoo. The confessed shooter had been released about six months earlier after serving a 'life sentence' for a murder, two attempted murders, weapons charges and other offences. He committed the apparently random shootings with an unlicensed gun.
The National Police Commissioner says he does not believe the incident had increased insecurity in society.
Commissioner Paatero also wants tougher gun control laws. In his view, handguns should be only permitted for use by enthusiasts at shooting clubs and should be stored securely to prevent them falling into the wrong hands.
“There should be no subjective right in Finland to acquire weapons,” he observed.