Is five years evading law enforcement really that much better than ~1 year in prison? (One year based on the fact that the five year limit only applies if the maximum penalty is at most 2 years[1], and presumably a first timer would not spend the whole 2 years in prison (and the actual sentence in this case might be below 2 years anyway))

The general principle, as far as I know, is based on the idea that the need for punishment is lessened by time.

[1] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preskription#Preskriptionstide...