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Ett dolt kronvittnessystem? - Den svenska rättsordningens sätt att hantera kronvittnen

Enoksson, Catrin LU (2017) LAGF03 20171
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
During the penal code reform 1989, clemency pleas were introduced in the Swedish legal system. Chapter 29 § 5 in the penal code states that the court, except the penal value, should take into account the circumstances after the crime has been committed as well as the defendant’s personal conditions when evaluating possible punishments. The court must take these clemency pleas into account in order to eliminate penalties from being unreasonable or unfair. However, the article should be restrictively applied and doesn’t involve crown witnesses. A crown witness is a defendant that can get a penalty discount if he or she reveals important information about other people’s crimes.

An expansion of the clemency pleas to include crown witnesses... (More)
During the penal code reform 1989, clemency pleas were introduced in the Swedish legal system. Chapter 29 § 5 in the penal code states that the court, except the penal value, should take into account the circumstances after the crime has been committed as well as the defendant’s personal conditions when evaluating possible punishments. The court must take these clemency pleas into account in order to eliminate penalties from being unreasonable or unfair. However, the article should be restrictively applied and doesn’t involve crown witnesses. A crown witness is a defendant that can get a penalty discount if he or she reveals important information about other people’s crimes.

An expansion of the clemency pleas to include crown witnesses and to introduce a complete crown-witness system has been subjects for discussions for a long time. There have been several Governmental investigations regarding the introduction of such a system, which so far has been rejected due to different reasons. However, the Swedish Supreme Court confirmed in the NJA 2009 p.599 that a defendant can receive a penal discount if he or she is under the risk of serious victimization due to their revelations of other’s crimes.

As a result of the Supreme court’s pronouncement, a debate was raised regarding the possibility that it could be indirectly assumed that a crown witness system had been introduced into Swedish legislature. Therefore, this essay legitimately attempts to answer the question of how the Swedish legal system deals with a situation where a defendant reveals crucial information about someone else’s crime. Can one say that Sweden has a non-explicit crown-witness system? Through the analysis, the paper concludes that there is a subtle difference between a crown-witness system and the current system that is present in Swedish law. Even though Sweden theoretically doesn’t have an explicit crown-witness system, it cannot be foreseen that Sweden is approaching the practical introduction of such a system. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Vid revideringen av brottsbalken 1989 infördes det billighetsskäl i 29 kap. 5 § BrB som rätten utöver brottets straffvärde ska beakta vid straffmätningen. Omständigheterna som räknas upp i paragrafen är sådana som inträffat efter brottets genomförande eller som har med den tilltalades personliga omständigheter att göra. Rätten får, med stöd av billighetsskälen, döma till lindrigare straff än vad som är föreskrivet för brottet om särskilda skäl påkallar det. Bestämmelsen ska enligt sin ordalydelse tillämpas restriktivt och omfattar uttryckligen inte kronvittnen. Ett kronvittne är en gärningsperson som mot löfte om antingen strafflindring eller straffbefrielse anger, vittnar mot eller lämnar uppgifter om andra personers brottslighet.

... (More)
Vid revideringen av brottsbalken 1989 infördes det billighetsskäl i 29 kap. 5 § BrB som rätten utöver brottets straffvärde ska beakta vid straffmätningen. Omständigheterna som räknas upp i paragrafen är sådana som inträffat efter brottets genomförande eller som har med den tilltalades personliga omständigheter att göra. Rätten får, med stöd av billighetsskälen, döma till lindrigare straff än vad som är föreskrivet för brottet om särskilda skäl påkallar det. Bestämmelsen ska enligt sin ordalydelse tillämpas restriktivt och omfattar uttryckligen inte kronvittnen. Ett kronvittne är en gärningsperson som mot löfte om antingen strafflindring eller straffbefrielse anger, vittnar mot eller lämnar uppgifter om andra personers brottslighet.

Diskussionen kring huruvida Sverige borde utvidga billighetsskälen till att även omfatta kronvittnen och därmed införa ett kronvittnessystem har sedan införandet av billighetsskälen förekommit. Vid samtliga statliga utredningar som berört ett eventuellt införande har detta likväl avvisats av flera skäl. Högsta domstolen fastslog dock i NJA 2009 s. 599 att strafflindring kan ges till tilltalad som har lämnat uppgifter om eller bidragit i utredningen av andra personers brottslighet (kronvittnen). Detta under förutsättning att den tilltalade till följd av uppgiftslämnandet kommer tvingas leva under hot om allvarliga repressalier och inte längre kommer kunna leva ett normalt liv.

Genom prejudikatet från Högsta domstolen väcktes debatt kring huruvida det indirekt kan ha ansetts införts ett kronvittnessystem i svensk rätt. En befogad fråga att ställa sig, och som uppsatsen syftar till att besvara, är därför hur den svenska rättsordningen hanterar situationen då tilltalad har lämnat uppgifter om eller bidragit i utredningen av andra personers brottslighet. Skulle man kunna säga att Sverige har ett icke-explicit kronvittnessystem? Genom analysen i uppsatsen nås konklusionen att gränsen mellan ett kronvittnessystem och det system vi har i Sverige idag är hårfin. Trots att Sverige i teorin inte har ett kronvittnessystem kan det inte bortses från att vi i praktiken närmar oss införandet av ett sådant. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Enoksson, Catrin LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20171
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
straffrätt, criminal law, kronvittnen, kronvittnessystem
language
Swedish
id
8907881
date added to LUP
2017-06-29 09:59:37
date last changed
2017-06-29 09:59:37
@misc{8907881,
  abstract     = {{During the penal code reform 1989, clemency pleas were introduced in the Swedish legal system. Chapter 29 § 5 in the penal code states that the court, except the penal value, should take into account the circumstances after the crime has been committed as well as the defendant’s personal conditions when evaluating possible punishments. The court must take these clemency pleas into account in order to eliminate penalties from being unreasonable or unfair. However, the article should be restrictively applied and doesn’t involve crown witnesses. A crown witness is a defendant that can get a penalty discount if he or she reveals important information about other people’s crimes.

An expansion of the clemency pleas to include crown witnesses and to introduce a complete crown-witness system has been subjects for discussions for a long time. There have been several Governmental investigations regarding the introduction of such a system, which so far has been rejected due to different reasons. However, the Swedish Supreme Court confirmed in the NJA 2009 p.599 that a defendant can receive a penal discount if he or she is under the risk of serious victimization due to their revelations of other’s crimes.

As a result of the Supreme court’s pronouncement, a debate was raised regarding the possibility that it could be indirectly assumed that a crown witness system had been introduced into Swedish legislature. Therefore, this essay legitimately attempts to answer the question of how the Swedish legal system deals with a situation where a defendant reveals crucial information about someone else’s crime. Can one say that Sweden has a non-explicit crown-witness system? Through the analysis, the paper concludes that there is a subtle difference between a crown-witness system and the current system that is present in Swedish law. Even though Sweden theoretically doesn’t have an explicit crown-witness system, it cannot be foreseen that Sweden is approaching the practical introduction of such a system.}},
  author       = {{Enoksson, Catrin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Ett dolt kronvittnessystem? - Den svenska rättsordningens sätt att hantera kronvittnen}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}