The Swedish "head in the sand" mentality
Once again we are presented with an example of the Swedish “head in the sand” mentality. On Aftonbladet’s website today we were able to read an article entitled “The police lie – the Chancellor of Justice sharply criticises the judicial system."
In an interview, Justice Chancellor Göran Lambertz manages to both criticise the police and courts, i.e., the Swedish judicial system, and withdraw said criticism at the same time.
"The police lie and the courts are in too much of a hurry, says Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz. The consequence is that innocent people are sent to Swedish prisons… the courts do not always place the sufficiently high demands on evidence that they are expected to … police investigations are often very narrowly focused, that is to say they tend to be entirely focused on the assumption that the suspect is guilty… in certain police circles there is a particular code of conduct in which individuals sometimes lie to protect each other or to secure a guilty verdict for a person they believe to be guilty. This is an extremely serious matter."
He says that “there are inherent flaws in the criminal case procedures along the entire chain, from police investigation to prosecution to court proceedings.” According to the article, he believes that “the problems are to be found throughout the entire system.”
Yet in the next breath he says that “there is no corruption. Everyone is decent and honest and wants to do his best. It is important to remember this."
Am I the only one who finds this to be an extremely peculiar statement? Isn’t this last statement the exact opposite of what he said at the beginning of the same interview?
An impartial, competent investigator who had made the same findings would have been more likely to conclude that there is indeed corruption and that there are dishonest people in the judicial system, perhaps to a very great extent.
Why is he so afraid to call the situation as he sees it? Is it because there are reporters who will become indignant and whip up their readers and television audiences with biased reports instead of investigating the matter?
Doing what the Justice Chancellor has done, i.e., neutralising what appeared to be serious criticism in the same breath that it was given only serves to ensure that nothing is done about the issues that have been raised and that the crisis in the judicial system will become worse.
If the Justice Chancellor is not brave enough to point out flaws in the system without needing to pander to the feelings of those who are being criticised then he ought to consider handing his position over to a more capable person, for this type of performance helps no-one. We cannot afford to encourage the Swedish people to stick their heads even deeper into the sand.
Once again we are presented with an example of the Swedish “head in the sand” mentality. On Aftonbladet’s website today we were able to read an article entitled “The police lie – the Chancellor of Justice sharply criticises the judicial system."
In an interview, Justice Chancellor Göran Lambertz manages to both criticise the police and courts, i.e., the Swedish judicial system, and withdraw said criticism at the same time.
"The police lie and the courts are in too much of a hurry, says Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz. The consequence is that innocent people are sent to Swedish prisons… the courts do not always place the sufficiently high demands on evidence that they are expected to … police investigations are often very narrowly focused, that is to say they tend to be entirely focused on the assumption that the suspect is guilty… in certain police circles there is a particular code of conduct in which individuals sometimes lie to protect each other or to secure a guilty verdict for a person they believe to be guilty. This is an extremely serious matter."
He says that “there are inherent flaws in the criminal case procedures along the entire chain, from police investigation to prosecution to court proceedings.” According to the article, he believes that “the problems are to be found throughout the entire system.”
Yet in the next breath he says that “there is no corruption. Everyone is decent and honest and wants to do his best. It is important to remember this."
Am I the only one who finds this to be an extremely peculiar statement? Isn’t this last statement the exact opposite of what he said at the beginning of the same interview?
An impartial, competent investigator who had made the same findings would have been more likely to conclude that there is indeed corruption and that there are dishonest people in the judicial system, perhaps to a very great extent.
Why is he so afraid to call the situation as he sees it? Is it because there are reporters who will become indignant and whip up their readers and television audiences with biased reports instead of investigating the matter?
Doing what the Justice Chancellor has done, i.e., neutralising what appeared to be serious criticism in the same breath that it was given only serves to ensure that nothing is done about the issues that have been raised and that the crisis in the judicial system will become worse.
If the Justice Chancellor is not brave enough to point out flaws in the system without needing to pander to the feelings of those who are being criticised then he ought to consider handing his position over to a more capable person, for this type of performance helps no-one. We cannot afford to encourage the Swedish people to stick their heads even deeper into the sand.
posted by Adolf R | 23:43
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