Sweden's Criminal Justice System: An Overview

Introduction: Sweden's Geography, Population, and Government

Sweden is located in Northern Europe. It borders the Baltic Sea, the Gulfs of Bothnia, Kattegat, and Skagerrak, and lies between Finland and Norway in a strategic position along the Danish Straits linking the Baltic and North Seas ("Sweden," 2008).

The geographic composition of Sweden includes 3,218 km of coastline and land that is mostly flat or gently rolling lowland, with 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 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 kilometers of land are irrigated, and fresh water supplies are limited. Sweden is roughly the size of California or France ("Sweden," 2008).

As of 2007, the CIA World Factbook estimated the Swedish population at 9,031,088, with the following age breakdown: 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) ("Sweden," 2008). 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. Previously known as Lapps — a term they consider derogatory — they are now called the Sami or Saemieh, which translates roughly as "the reindeer people." There are Sami populations indigenous to Sweden, Jämtland, and Härjedalen, as well as to the broader region known as Lapland. Their culture is largely independent of regional governmental cultures and is unique to Scandinavia ("An Introduction to the Sami," 1996).

The population of Sweden also includes a small minority of foreign-born or first-generation immigrants, including Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, and Turks. Swedish is the dominant language, with small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities. The religious composition is approximately 87% Lutheran, with a 13% minority of other faiths including Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist ("Sweden," 2008).

Sweden is governed as a constitutional monarchy. The monarch serves as Head of State (King Carl XVI Gustaf, since 19 September 1973), while the Prime Minister, elected by parliament, serves as head of government (Fredrik Reinfeldt, since 5 October 2006). The Parliament (Riksdag) is elected by popular vote — universal suffrage at age 18 — holds 349 seats on a proportional representative schedule, and members serve four-year terms. The current constitution was adopted on 1 January 1975 and serves as the major source of governmental decision-making. The popular vote of parliament results in the appointment of a Prime Minister; the next elections were scheduled for 2010 ("Sweden," 2008).

Parliament must approve all national taxes, annual budgets, and legislation. Its decision-making powers are without limitation beyond those based on specific rules in the Constitution, such as the protection of free speech, the ban on capital punishment, and the independence of the courts and state civil service in enforcing laws (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993). The position of the monarch is largely ceremonial, and most governmental decisions are made by parliament and state, local, and regional governments (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993).

The judicial system is described as follows in official government documentation:

"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 have relatively broad roles and responsibilities, including oversight of budget and funding for crime agencies as well as some core crime-related legislation ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3).

Crime in Sweden: Definitions, Statistics, and Trends

Swedish penal code does not classify crimes and infractions separately; crime itself is defined according to the penal code. There is, however, a grouping of crimes into subgroups guided by principle and pragmatism that has 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. Those under the age of 18 are very rarely sentenced to prison; special circumstances must exist for a prison sentence to be imposed on someone under 18, and in many cases also for those under 21.

Sweden also has a very strict comparative policy on drug offenses. It is illegal to possess, import, buy, or use narcotics, which are classified on a list of 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, regardless of the ensuing charge — murder, manslaughter, or assault — and murder statistics are compiled together with attempted murder, though some statistical difficulties arise. Rape is defined in the penal code as forced or imminent threat of copulation; penetration is not required for a rape charge to be filed, and attempted rape is included with completed rape in statistics. Women can also be charged with rape, though such cases are extremely rare. Theft is also a crime, and the most serious cases include car theft and burglary (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993).

According to Wikstrom & Dolman, Sweden experienced an overall increase in crime incidence after 1975, with such increases more pronounced in larger cities — particularly Stockholm, which recorded the largest increases across all crime types. Increases in violent crime, drug crime, and property crime were generally observed, but disproportionately in urban areas. There has also been a strong trend toward reform across all systems associated with crime prevention and treatment ("The Swedish Judicial System," 2007, p. 3).

All crime statistics in Sweden are acquired through reports to police and other crime-related agencies. Crimes are not removed from statistics even if they prove to be unfounded or if no criminal intent or offender is identified (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993). Statistics are collected by police and then compiled by the Ministry of Justice to inform needed changes to laws and other crime-related legislation, 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 for Sweden are best provided by the U.S. Department of Justice World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems.

Murder. Swedish crime statistics include attempts, but completed and attempted homicides are also shown separately. The definition of a completed homicide encompasses all criminal cases causing the death of the victim, regardless of whether they are charged as murder, manslaughter, or assault combined with causing another person's 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 were not, in fact, completed homicides. The accurate figure should be around 120 cases, and this probably also applies to the 1993 figure. The level of homicide has been fairly constant in Sweden since the mid-1970s, fluctuating between 120 and 140 annually.

Rape. In 1993, there were 2,153 police-recorded crimes of rape; of these, 1,608 were completed and the rest were attempts. According to Swedish law, 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 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, of which 20,200 were residential burglaries. Since the mid-1970s, the level of recorded burglaries has fluctuated around 130,000 to 150,000 per year, although during the three years from 1991 to 1993 the level was close to 155,000. The number of recorded car thefts in 1993 was 61,141, of which 18,300 were attempts. During the 1980s, the number of recorded car thefts doubled from 34,301 in 1980 to 69,003 in 1989; however, in the last three years of that period the figure 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 — a figure 40% higher than in 1990. Due to the method of counting drug offenses and the fact that this crime category is highly dependent on the level of police activity, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the actual amount of crime or about changes over time (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993).

As demonstrated above, Sweden enjoys a relatively low overall crime rate, particularly 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 United Kingdom tend to have similar legal systems but both tend to have higher crime rates, possibly associated with regional differences in tourism and immigration (Reichel, 2008, pp. 34, 231, 298–299).

Legal Tradition and the Structure of Swedish Law

Membership in the European Union has 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 is the accepted use of the European Arrest Warrant by most EU member nations, including Sweden (Reichel, 2008, p. 231). According to the CIA World Factbook, Sweden's laws are based on a "civil law system influenced by customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations" ("Sweden," 2008).

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

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 United States — and procedural law is only limitedly flexible with regard to sentencing and mitigating considerations by judges.

The number of judges in Sweden, by level of general court, is distributed across the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and District Courts (Wikstrom & Dolman, 1993).