Sweden\'s Current Justice System Overview

Sweden's Current Justice System

Overview of the Country: Sweden

Location

Sweden is located in Northern Europe it borders the Baltic Sea the Gulfs of Bothnia, Kattegat, and Skagerrak and lays between Finland and Norway in a strategic location along the Danish Straits linking the Baltic and north Seas. ("Sweden," 2008, NP)

Geography

The geographic composition of Sweden includes 3,218 km of coastline and land that is mostly flat or with gently rolling lowlands, and a small portion of mountains in the west. The climate is mostly temperate in the south with cold, cloudy winters and cool partly cloudy summers and is sub-arctic in the north. Sweden also has a very limited area of arable land, 5.93% with only 0.1% dedicated to permanent crops, 1,150 square km of land are irrigated and Sweden has limited fresh water supplies as well. Sweden is roughly the size of California or France. ("Sweden," 2008, NP)

Population Size and Ethnic Composition:

As of 2007, the CIA world factbook estimates the Swedish population as 9,031,088. With and age breakdown of: "0-14 years: 16.4% (male 759,488/female 717,812)

15-64 years: 65.7% (male 3,007,899/female 2,926,220) 65 years and over: 17.9% (male 707,687/female 911,982) (2007 est.)" ("Sweden," 2008, NP) the ethnic composition is mostly an indigenous population of Swedes with small Finnish and Sami minorities. The Sami are indigenous peoples who live mainly in small communities and are associated with reindeer husbandry; the group was previously known as Lapps, which they consider a derogatory term and is now known as the Sami or Saemieh, which translates to the reindeerpeople. There are populations of Sami, indigenous to Sweden, Jemtland and H. rjedalen as well as those who are indigenous tot the regional area known as Lapland. The culture is largely independent of the regional governmental cultures and is unique to the are of Scandinavia. ("An Introduction to the Sami..." 1996, NP) the population of Sweden also includes small minority of foreign-born or first-generation immigrants which include Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks and Turks. The language spoken in the nation is majority Swedish with a small percentage of Sami and Finnish speaking minorities. The CIA world factbook also notes the religious composition as follows: "87% Lutheran and a 13% minority of other faiths including: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist." ("Sweden," 2008, NP)

Political System and System of Government:

Sweden is governed as a Constitutional Monarchy. The Monarch is the Head of Stare, (King CARL XVI GUSTAF (since 19 September 1973) ("Sweden," 2008, NP) while the Prime Minister, elected by the parliament serves as the head of government (Fredrik REINFELDT (since 5 October 2006). The Parliament (Riksdag) is elected by popular vote (suffrage universal at 18 years) and holds 349 seats, on a proportional representative schedule and parliament members serve four-year terms. The current constitution was adopted January 1, 1975 and serves as the major source of governmental decision making. The popular vote of the Parliament then results in an appointment of a Prime Minister, the next elections will be held in 2010. ("Sweden," 2008, NP)

The Parliament must approve all national taxes, annual budgets and legislation. The decision-making powers of parliament are without limitation, beyond those based on specific rules in the Constitution, such as protection of free speech, the ban on capital punishment, and the independence of the court and State civil service in enforcing laws. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

The position of the monarch is largely ceremonial, and most governmental decisions are made by the parliament and state, local and regional governments. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP) the judicial system is described as follows:

The judicial system is normally taken to comprise the agencies responsible for ensuring legal security and the rule of law. The courts form the backbone of this system. Agencies for crime prevention and investigation, i.e., the Swedish Police Service, the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, the Swedish Prosecution Authority, the Swedish National Economic Crimes Bureau and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service are also regarded as part of the judicial system. Other public agencies, such as the National Board of Forensic Medicine and the enforcement services, also have tasks within or linked to the judicial system. ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3)

The Swedish judicial system and the Ministry of Justice in general have relatively broad roles and responsibilities, and are even responsible for budget and funding of crime agencies as well as some core crime related legislation. ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3)

Description of Crime and Crime Statistics

Swedish penal code does not classify crimes and infractions separately and crime itself is based on legal definitions of crime based on the penal code. There is however a grouping of crimes together in subgroups which are guided by principle and pragmatism and have developed over time. In Sweden the age of criminal responsibility is 15, though there are many provisional exceptions to conviction and sentencing for those under 21, and those under the age of 18 are very rarely sentenced to prison terms. Special circumstances must exist for the occurrence of prison sentencing for those under 18 and in many cases also those under 21. Sweden also has a very strict comparative policy on drug offences. It is illegal to possess, bring in, buy or use narcotics in Sweden and narcotics are classified by a list that includes 170 substances, including cannabis. Use of narcotics was criminalized in 1988. Completed murder, according to the Swedish penal code is any act that ends with the death of an individual, no matter the ensuing charge, murder, manslaughter or assault, and murder statistics are compiled with attempted murder, though some statistical difficulties occur. Rape, is classified in the penal code as forced or imminent threat of copulation, though penetration does not have to occur for rape charge to be filed and again attempted rape is included with completed rape in statistics. Women can also be charged with rape, but cases are extremely rare. Theft is also considered a crime, and cases of serious or the most extreme cases include car theft and burglary. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Major Crimes and Current Crime Issue:

According to Wikstrom & Dolman in the World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems, Sweden has had an overall increase in the incidence of crime, since 1975, but that such increases are more excessive in larger cities, and especially Stockholm, the area with the largest increase in all types of crime. Increases in violent crime, drug crime and crimes of property are generally all seen but as has been mentioned in larger proportions in the more urban areas of the nation. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP) There has also been a strong trend of reformation in the nation across all systems associated with prevention and treatment of crime. ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3)

Country Acquisition, Compilation & Reporting of Crime Statistics

All crime statistics in Sweden are acquired through reports to police and other crime related agencies and crimes are not removed from statistics even if they prove to be unfounded or if no criminal intent or offender is discovered. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP) the statistics are collected by police and then compiled by the Ministry of Justice, to elicit information for needed changes to laws and other legislation relating to crime, a responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, rather than the broader legislative branch. ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3)

Examples of Compiled Crime Statistics

Examples of compiled crime statistics for Sweden are best provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems.

Crime statistics.

Murder. The Swedish crime statistics include attempts but completed and attempted homicides are also shown separately. The definition of a completed homicide is all criminal cases causing the death of the victim regardless of whether they are charged as murder, manslaughter or assault combined with causing another persons death. In 1992 there were a total of 174 completed criminal homicides. The corresponding figure for 1993 was 173. However, a special analysis of all homicides recorded in 1992 showed that almost one third of the cases appearing in the statistics as completed homicides, in fact, were not. The accurate figure should be around 120 cases. This probably also holds for the 1993 figure. The level of homicide has been fairly constant in Sweden since the mid 1970s, fluctuating between 120 to 140 homicides annually.

Rape. In 1993 there were 2,153 police recorded crimes of rape; of these 1,608 were completed; the rest were attempts. According to Swedish law a rape is defined as follows; if a person, by violence or by threat involving, or appearing to the threatened person as involving, imminent danger, forces the latter to copulate or have comparable sexual intercourse, he or she shall be sentenced for rape. Penetration of the woman's body is not necessary for a case to constitute a rape. Since 1984 a female can be charged with rape but such cases have been extremely rare.

Theft. Serious property crimes are defined as burglaries and car thefts. In 1993 there were 155,704 recorded crimes of burglary and of these 20,200 were residential burglaries. Since the mid-1970s the level of recorded burglaries has fluctuated around a level of 130,000 to 150,000 crimes per year although during the three last years, 1991 to 1993, the level has been close to 155,000. The number of recorded car thefts in 1993 was 61,141 and of these 18,300 were attempts. During the 1980s the number of recorded thefts of cars has doubled from 34,301 in 1980 to 69,003 in 1989. However, in the last three years this crime has decreased from roughly 70,000 in 1991 to roughly 61,000 in 1993.

Drug offenses. In 1993, 40,700 violations of the Narcotic Drugs Act were reported to the police. This figure is 40% higher than in 1990. Due to the method of counting drug offenses and the fact that this is a crime category highly dependent on the level of police activity, it is difficult to draw any conclusion about the actual amount of crime and/or about changes over time. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Comparison of Similar Countries with Similar Legal Systems

As was seen above, Sweden does enjoy a relatively low overall crime rate, specifically among violent crimes such as rape and murder, with most serious crimes occurring as crimes against property. Sweden also has comparatively strict laws regarding violent crime and drug crime. Germany and the UK tend to have similar systems but both tend to have higher rates of crime, possibly associated with regional differences in tourism and immigration. (Reichel, 2008, pp.34, 231, 298-299)

Description of the Legal Tradition

Membership in the European Union has also altered the manner in which crime is treated and the legal system is structured in Sweden, as the EU has created an amalgamation of systems, and some limited universalization of procedures and processes in criminal law, one example of this is the accepted use of the European Arrest Warrant, by most nation members in the EU including Sweden.. (Reichel, 2008, p. 231) Malmstrm, May 25, 2007, NP) According to the CIA world factbook Sweden's laws are based on, "civil law system influenced by customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations." ("Sweden," 2008, NP)

Substantive Law

The substantive law of Sweden is defined in legislation as well as in the legal code of the national, state, regional and local governments.

Procedural Law

That having been said the procedural law of the nation is largely dictated by the court system, which is extensive and structured in much the same way as the U.S. court system. Procedural laws must follow certain patterns, as is true in the U.S., and procedural law is limitedly flexible with regard to sentencing, and mitigating considerations by judges.

Number of judges. The number of judges in Sweden by level of general court:

Supreme Court

Appeal Courts

District Courts

The figures within brackets refer to the number of judges with a permanent position. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Description of Law Enforcement System

The police force is generally described by a list of jurisdictional identities. The police force in general is charged with both enforcement of laws and prevention of crime. (Other localized and private organizations have also been developed at a grass roots level to assist in prevention tactics).

The organization of the police system according to organization and administration report for budget year 1992/1993:

The Government and the Ministry of Justice

The National Police Board and the National Forensic Laboratory

County administrative boards (24)

County police commissioners (24)

Police authorities and police areas (117) (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Organization of Police Force

The organization of the police force can also be described by a description of the roles and responsibilities of the different branches of the police force, as they are described by Wikstrom & Dolman in U.S. Department of Justice, World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems.

The areas of activity of the National Police Board are: (1)the National Police Board's central administrative authority, (2)the National Criminal Investigation department, and (3)the National Police College. The National Police Board is also the governing authority for the National Forensic Laboratory (SKL). In its role as a central administrative authority it is the task of the National Police Board to communicate the Government's priorities and guidelines for operation as well as following up and inspecting the police system. The Board should strive for sound methods as well as coordination and rationalization of police work. In its capacity as a central administrative authority, the Board also has the role of service body for the local police organization.

The National Police Board (RPS) manages certain police activities. This applies mainly to serious crime with national or international ramifications. The management of police activities carried on by RPS is performed by the National Criminal Investigation Department. The National Investigation Department also provides reinforcements for local police organizations; reinforcement of other police authorities is around 75% of the National Investigation Department's operation. It may be a case of providing assistance in investigation work in connection with murder investigations and other serious crimes of violence, drug offenses or organized car theft for export. The National Investigation Department is also responsible for Swedish UN police activities as well as Interpol activities.

The National Forensic Laboratory (SKL) is the central Swedish laboratory for forensic investigations. SKL mainly carries out laboratory investigations when there is suspicion of crime.

The National Police Board is responsible for the activities of the National Police College. The Police College provides basic training of police officers, police management training, advanced courses, contract courses, research and development work.

The Security Police report directly to the National Police Commissioner. The security police gather information on situations that may be important for the external or internal safety of the nation and for combating terrorism.

The local police organization is divided into 117 police authorities or police areas. Beginning with the fiscal year 92/93 the funds of the local police organizations will be distributed between 26 secondary budgets, one for each county (24) as well as one for joint requirements and one for crime investigation activities. The overall responsibility for both activities and finances within the county's police force rests with the county administrative board.

Special areas outside the local organization are the marine police that maintain order and safety at sea. The marine police cooperate with customs and coast guard to guard the frontier and restricted areas. The marine police also assist in rescue assignments. The cost of the operation was SEK 31 millions for fiscal year 92/93.

The activities of the police force as regards aliens consist of basic investigation and exclusion or deportation. Other matters concerning aliens include nationality cases and extension of residence permits. Since 1992 investigations of applications for asylum have been dealt with by the National Immigration Board.

Frontier control and airport guarding are, on the other hand, matters for the customs and police. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Organizational Structure

Though Sweden does have compartmentalized police forces, by jurisdiction and region the overall structure is one of a centralized force, with branches of service that are governed, funded and coordinated by the National Police Force Board. (Reichel, 2008, pp. 232-233)

Comparison of Similar Law Enforcement Systems

For this reason the comparison model for the Swedish system is France, which according to the classification system in Reichel includes a system with multiple police forces that are governed by a central agency. (Reichel, 2008, p. 233)

Jurisdiction of Each Unit

Regional and national jurisdictions are recognized in Sweden and generally national jurisdiction includes those that function to resolve national issues, national security, migration issues and international legal matters, such as crimes committed outside the nation by Swedish nationals and other EU crime issues. ("Criminal Matters," 2008, NP) Local and State police forces are responsible for apprehending and reporting local and state crime, as with many other systems, the issue of criminal act goes from municipal to local to state as the criminal act travels through the nation.

Selection and Training of Law Enforcement Personnel

Police selection and training is an example of centralization of the system as it is under the jurisdiction of the National Police College in Stockholm. In a basic sense there are two career choices, criminal investigation or uniformed police officer. Qualification includes Swedish citizenship, age of 20, high school education, one year of work experience outside of the police force, good health, a body fit for police work, a drivers license and the ability to swim. "In August 1994, 5,812 persons applied for police officer training and of these 191 were accepted, 51 of whom were females." (Wikstrom

Dolman, 1993, NP) in addition to the above qualification, consideration for police criminal investigation positions requires a degree in law, and these officers are designated as police commissioners and require additional training. "In 1991 700 persons applied to the police commissioner training program and 30 were accepted." (Wikstrom

Dolman, 1993, NP) Training for police officer recruits includes a three-year degree, which includes 10 months of basic training at police college and 18 months of trainee experience in one of the 117 police districts and five final months of police college training. For police commissioners is also three years and includes a theoretical component at the police college as well as classes in police work, analysis and planning, administration and work specific psychology. The commissioner trainees also work as trainees in all areas of justice including, police, courts and prosecution. (Wikstrom

Dolman, 1993, NP)

Description of the Criminal Justice Court System

Sweden's court system is three tiered and consists of general courts, district courts, the courts of appeal and the Supreme court. Appeals against district court judgments can be carried to a court of appeals and appeals court decisions can be appealed to the Supreme Court under certain permission circumstances, as in cases where the court deems that the hearing of the case may be important to the enforcement of the law in the future. Though there are other special courts, such as those for administration all criminal cases are heard by the general courts as described above, unless such matters are deemed judiciary for national interest in which case the national court hears cases. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Justice Actors

There are similar actors in the judicial system as there are in the U.S. system, a prosecution (governmental representation), defense (appointed or private) and a judge or judges depending on the court level. (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993, NP)

Role of Actors

The role of each of these players is largely described by the inquisitional system as the judge plays the role of the impartial decision maker, while the defense and prosecution act to mitigate the truth through presentation of facts provided trough investigation of the criminal matter. (Reiter, 2007, p. 166)