Discrimination in the criminal justice process in Sweden

In 2006, and against this background, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) was instructed by the Swedish government to study how defendants and injured parties with a non-Swedish background may be subjected to discrimination in the criminal justice process.

The directive issued to the National Council notes that inquiries focusing on the issue of discrimination in the justice system have indicated a need for additional efforts in this area. To begin with, this means developing a better understanding of the ways in which individuals with a non-Swedish background may be subjected to discrimination within the criminal justice process. More knowledge is required about discriminatory behaviours and structures within the police service, the prosecution service and the court system. The government’s directive to the National Council states that the results will serve as a basis for assessing what additional measures may be required in order to ensure that discrimination does not occur within the Swedish justice system.

The principal objective of the report published by the National Council, whose contents are summarised in the following pages, has been to describe the ways in which behaviours and structures within the justice system can lead to individuals with a non-Swedish background being disadvantaged in their contacts with the criminal justice process, and to discuss what steps might be taken within the justice system to reduce the risk for the occurrence of this discrimination. Thus the Council has not been instructed to measure the extent of discrimination within the justice system, and the report therefore makes no attempt to estimate the number of cases in which different forms of discrimination may manifest themselves.