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Objektivitetsprincipen - en rättspsykologisk omöjlighet? Om möjligheten att upprätthålla rättssäkerheten vid förundersökning av grova brott.

Stråhlén, Sofie LU (2012) JURM02 20121
Department of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Thomas Quick erkände under 1990-talet ett 30-tal mord som han påstod att han begått i Sverige, Norge, Danmark, och Finland under åren 1964-1993. Han dömdes för åtta av dem. 18 år senare, i december 2008, tar han tillbaka alla sina erkännanden av mord och begär resning för samtliga fällande domar. Detta har hittills resulterat i tre frikännande domar samt två positiva resningsbeslut. Pelle Svensson, stridbar advokat och författare har skrivit en bok om Thomas Quick mordrättegångar och kallar dem “Sveriges största rättskandal genom tiderna”. I boken kritiserar Pelle Svensson åklagaren Christer van der Kwast och menar att rättsäkerheten och objektiviteten satts ur spel “på ett häpnadsväckande sätt”.
Just åklagarens arbete är naturligt... (More)
Thomas Quick erkände under 1990-talet ett 30-tal mord som han påstod att han begått i Sverige, Norge, Danmark, och Finland under åren 1964-1993. Han dömdes för åtta av dem. 18 år senare, i december 2008, tar han tillbaka alla sina erkännanden av mord och begär resning för samtliga fällande domar. Detta har hittills resulterat i tre frikännande domar samt två positiva resningsbeslut. Pelle Svensson, stridbar advokat och författare har skrivit en bok om Thomas Quick mordrättegångar och kallar dem “Sveriges största rättskandal genom tiderna”. I boken kritiserar Pelle Svensson åklagaren Christer van der Kwast och menar att rättsäkerheten och objektiviteten satts ur spel “på ett häpnadsväckande sätt”.
Just åklagarens arbete är naturligt känslig för vissa psykologiska fenomen eftersom objektivitetsprincipen i princip innebär att åklagaren måste ifrågasätta sina egna beslut. Åklagarens objektivitetsplikt måste dessutom relateras till andra önskvärda, grundläggande, processuella principer så som skyndsamhetsprincipen och principen om kostnadseffektivitet. Detta påverkar förmågan att förhålla sig objektiv. I uppsatsen eftersöks därför, genom en analys av rättsfall, eventuella psykologiska påverkansfaktorer samt huruvida lagstiftning och annan reglering tar hänsyn till dessa fenomen.
Den rättspsykologiska analysen visade på att två psykologiska fenomen, suggestibilitet och konfirmeringsbias, kan ha förekommit kring de felaktiga domarna. Båda dessa fenomen relaterar till objektivitetsprincipen, och i ett vidare begrepp till utredningskravet och bevisvärdering vilket gör dessa metoder speciellt utsatta för psykologisk diskrepans. I både utredningskravet och i bevisvärderingen lämnas nämligen, av motiverade anledningar, stort utrymme för individuella avgöranden.
Utredningen kring frågeställningen visar dock att det finns ett tillfredsställande skydd för det psykologiska fenomenet konfirmeringsbias som framkommit i rättsfallsanalysen. Det har också framkommit, under arbetet med uppsatsen, en tydlig bild av att rättsväsendet är medveten om den inre påverkan som exempelvis åklagaren kan utsättas för även om inte denna påverkan nämns vid namn. Sammantaget anser jag dock att det behövs en översyn av förhörstekniker i Sverige för att upprätthålla rättssäkerheten. Framför allt bör utsagans uppkomst få större utrymme i bevisvärderingen. (Less)
Abstract
1990 Thomas Quick confessed to around 30 murders that he claimed to have committed in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland around the years 1964-1993. He was convicted for eight of them. 18 years later he takes back his confessions of murder and applies for remedy for all his convictions. This has so far resulted in three acquittals and five granted trials of remedy. Pelle Svensson, lawyer and author, wrote a book about Thomas Quicks trials and calls them Sweden’s largest scandal of justice trough times. Pelle Svensson criticizes the prosecutor Christer van der Kwast and claims that the security of justice and objectivity has been compromised in an astonishing way.
The prosecutors work is naturally sensitive to certain psychological... (More)
1990 Thomas Quick confessed to around 30 murders that he claimed to have committed in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland around the years 1964-1993. He was convicted for eight of them. 18 years later he takes back his confessions of murder and applies for remedy for all his convictions. This has so far resulted in three acquittals and five granted trials of remedy. Pelle Svensson, lawyer and author, wrote a book about Thomas Quicks trials and calls them Sweden’s largest scandal of justice trough times. Pelle Svensson criticizes the prosecutor Christer van der Kwast and claims that the security of justice and objectivity has been compromised in an astonishing way.
The prosecutors work is naturally sensitive to certain psychological phenomenon due to the fact that the principle of objectivity requires the prosecutor to question his own decisions. The prosecutors principle of objectivity also relates to other desirable, basic, principles of the process like the principle of dispatch and cost-effective. These principles affects the ability to stay objective. In this paper I therefore analyze Swedish cases, who has been wrongfully ruled, for psychological phenomenon and compare whether Swedish law and regulations compensates for these phenomenon.
The psychological analysis indicate that two psychological phenomenon, suggestibility and confirmation bias, might be present in wrongfully convicted cases. Both phenomenon relates to the principle of objectivity and in a larger aspect to the investigationclaim and the valuation of evidence which makes these methods particularly exposed to psychological discrepancy. Both these methods leaves, to the legal system well-aware, a large room for individual ruling.
The comparison shows that the Swedish legal system has a satisfying safeguard for the psychological phenomenon confirmation bias. There is an obvious awareness of the inner impingement that comes from confirmation bias even though the bias is not mentioned by name. Altogether, its my opinion that there is a need for a overhaul of the interrogation techniques used in Sweden, this in order to keep a high level of security of justice. Foremost tho origin of a dictum needs to receive a vaster significance in the valuation of evidence. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Stråhlén, Sofie LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Principle of objektivity - a psychological impossibility?
course
JURM02 20121
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Thomas Quick, Sture Bergwall, Objektivitetsplikt, objektivitetsprincipen, utredningskrav, bevisvärdering, konfirmationsbias, suggestibilitet
language
Swedish
id
3049502
date added to LUP
2012-11-01 10:13:00
date last changed
2012-11-01 10:13:00
@misc{3049502,
  abstract     = {{1990 Thomas Quick confessed to around 30 murders that he claimed to have committed in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland around the years 1964-1993. He was convicted for eight of them. 18 years later he takes back his confessions of murder and applies for remedy for all his convictions. This has so far resulted in three acquittals and five granted trials of remedy. Pelle Svensson, lawyer and author, wrote a book about Thomas Quicks trials and calls them Sweden’s largest scandal of justice trough times. Pelle Svensson criticizes the prosecutor Christer van der Kwast and claims that the security of justice and objectivity has been compromised in an astonishing way.
The prosecutors work is naturally sensitive to certain psychological phenomenon due to the fact that the principle of objectivity requires the prosecutor to question his own decisions. The prosecutors principle of objectivity also relates to other desirable, basic, principles of the process like the principle of dispatch and cost-effective. These principles affects the ability to stay objective. In this paper I therefore analyze Swedish cases, who has been wrongfully ruled, for psychological phenomenon and compare whether Swedish law and regulations compensates for these phenomenon. 
The psychological analysis indicate that two psychological phenomenon, suggestibility and confirmation bias, might be present in wrongfully convicted cases. Both phenomenon relates to the principle of objectivity and in a larger aspect to the investigationclaim and the valuation of evidence which makes these methods particularly exposed to psychological discrepancy. Both these methods leaves, to the legal system well-aware, a large room for individual ruling. 
The comparison shows that the Swedish legal system has a satisfying safeguard for the psychological phenomenon confirmation bias. There is an obvious awareness of the inner impingement that comes from confirmation bias even though the bias is not mentioned by name. Altogether, its my opinion that there is a need for a overhaul of the interrogation techniques used in Sweden, this in order to keep a high level of security of justice. Foremost tho origin of a dictum needs to receive a vaster significance in the valuation of evidence.}},
  author       = {{Stråhlén, Sofie}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Objektivitetsprincipen - en rättspsykologisk omöjlighet? Om möjligheten att upprätthålla rättssäkerheten vid förundersökning av grova brott.}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}