Integrating a Victim Perspective within Criminal Justice: The Swedish Approach
| Published date | 01 September 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800000700403 |
| Author | Alvar Nelson |
| Date | 01 September 2000 |
International Review of Victim°logy,
2000, Vol. 7, pp. 251-263
0269-7580/00 $10
© A B Academic Publishers —Printed in Great Britain
INTEGRATING A VICTIM PERSPECTIVE WITHIN
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: THE SWEDISH APPROACH
DR. ALVAR NELSON*
Professor Emeritus of Criminal Law, Faculty of Law, Uppsala University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
After World War II public opinion in Sweden gradually recognised the need for a crusade against
crime as a threat to the state and its inhabitants. The police and responsibility for public prosecution
were nationalised, reorganised and placed within the Ministry of Justice. A new authority was
established in the Ministry to investigate crime prevention activities (BRA). A new Code on Judicial
Procedure, 1942 (in force 1948) had replaced previous legislation on civil and criminal court
procedure. The legislation on crime and penal sanctions was gradually reformed and a new Criminal
Code was adopted 1962 (in force 1964). Tort law, which had for long been unco-ordinated was
finally collected in the Tort Liability Act, 1972 supplemented by the Criminal Injuries Compensa-
tion Act, 1978. These codes and Acts have later been amended, sometimes to the benefit of
victims
of crime.
During this period the need for
state compensation
to victims of crime slowly attracted special
attention. From a cautious beginning in 1948 the state gradually took on responsibility for adjudged
economic compensation to the victim, not obtained from the offender. The social welfare system
covers costs for medical and social treatment and care and losses by industrial injury etc. Other
economic losses are often compensated by the victim's insurance. The remaining need for
compensation mainly refers to criminal violation of the victim's integrity and the effects of harm
caused by the offence. This article describes the implementation of the Crime Victim Compensation
Authority which was established in 1994. It analyses the place of the victim in the Swedish criminal
justice system, the injuries that attract compensation from the Authority, levels of payment, and
proposals for reform. These developments are set within the context of a feminist political agenda.
INTRODUCTION
Seen in the perspective of developments after World War II, the attitude in
Sweden to the
injured party
in the criminal justice system has changed from one
extreme to another. Initially the social-democratic government took the principal
standpoint that the injured party should have as little as possible to say. Two
generations later another government of the same colour was willing to ascribe
to the
victim of crime
a central position within the system, from the first report to
the end of the execution of the offender's sentence. Moreover they were willing
* The author (b. 1919) has
-
held the chair in Criminal Law at the Law Faculties of Aarhus University,
Denmark (1952-1961), Lund University, Sweden (1962-1964) and Uppsala University, Sweden
(1965-1985). He has published in History of Law, Constitutional law. Criminal Law and Social
Law as well as in Criminal and Social Policy and Criminology and participated in legislative work
in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Address: Juridicum, Box 512, SE-751 20 Uppsala; E-
mail:Alvar.Nelson
@jur.uu. se
.
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