Once again the Swedes have been reminded about the many imperfections of the welfare state they are so proud of. The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (BRÅ) released today a research report describing how citizens with immigrant background are denied the right kind of treatment by the institutions responsible of protecting and implementing the law.
The Swedish judicial system is supposed to work for the security and safety of the individual. And its aim is said to reduce criminality and increase people’s security. But it does not work in such obvious, honourable way all the time. Justice is certainly not impartial and as much as necessary righteous when it deals with immigrants, the research report concludes.
Racially biased policemen, crime investigators, prosecutors, magistrates and prison guards make it impossible for many immigrant criminals, eyewitnesses or victims to get a just process from crime to punishment.
The Swedish Police, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the National Board of Forensic Medicine, the Swedish National Economic Crimes Bureau, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, Swedish Courts, as well as the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention and the Swedish Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority are all institutions where the multicultural society of Sweden its not proportionally represented.
To a large level these Swedish institutions are in fact so “racially cleaned” than they sometimes remind you of the atrocious Apartheid system in South Africa. And that’s something which must change as soon as possible. Swedes with immigrant background – about 20 percent of the population - deserve to be part of the Swedish judicial system, not only the victims of its prejudices or its prisoners.
END NOTE: Do you have any questions about the report? Call or mail to the researchers David Shannon (+46-8-504 454 05), Nina Törnqvist (+46-8-401 87 95), Peter Martens (+46-8-401 87 02) or Felipe Estrada (+46-8-504 454 06).
