NCJ Number
70528
Date Published
1978
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The Swedish criminal justice delivery system is described in detail, from the court structure to the media role, with special emphasis on the features that distinguish it from the Anglo-Saxon judicial establishment.
Abstract
The Swedish criminal procedure is based on a progressive philosophy and a scrupulous regard for the rights of the accused: the latter are not, however, carried to the self-defeating extremes exemplified by the United States. In Sweden, arrested suspects are informed of their right to a defense counsel but not of any right to remain silent at any stage of the investigation and trial. While pretrial detention is seldom applied, bail does not exist and, when absolutely necessary, dangerous defendants can be detained as long as needed. Attorneys are not required to take any examination to be admitted to the bar, and there are no differences between solicitors and barristers in the English mode. Politics are injected into the Swedish court structure through the election of lay judges, or assessors, who represent the current political system and outnumber (and often outvote) the professional judges. In contrast to the Anglo-Saxon criminal procedures that afford opportunities to both prosecutors and defenders for playing games with the exchange of information and with the unexpected presentation of new evidence in court, the Swedish court apply the European system of complete information disclosure (discovery). Plea bargaining, the source of impotence and corruption in the legal system of North America is thereby curtailed. During criminal trials, neither defendants nor victims testify under oath, and written evidence is admitted with greater latitude than is customary in the United States. Public prosecutors are not elected; they are career civil servants. Crime reporting in the Swedish mass media is regulated by the self-imposed and self-policed ethical code of the press.