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Släckt rättssäkerhet för en knäckt gängkriminalitet? - Om anonyma vittnen som lösning på organiserad brottslighet

Jönsson, Julia LU (2019) LAGF03 20192
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
The parliamentary debate on the gang violence in Sweden resulted in a proposal for an assigned investigation on the introducing of an opportunity to testify anonymously. The investigation, which is now led on by the government, is one of several measures taken in order to end the culture of silence in organized criminality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are enough reasons for a use of anonymous witnesses, as a way of solving the problems with organized crime in Sweden. The essay presents applicable Swedish legislation as well as concerned European, Norwegian and Dutch law. In order to provide a critical discussion on the circumstances that might justify the establishment of an anonymous witness system in Sweden,... (More)
The parliamentary debate on the gang violence in Sweden resulted in a proposal for an assigned investigation on the introducing of an opportunity to testify anonymously. The investigation, which is now led on by the government, is one of several measures taken in order to end the culture of silence in organized criminality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are enough reasons for a use of anonymous witnesses, as a way of solving the problems with organized crime in Sweden. The essay presents applicable Swedish legislation as well as concerned European, Norwegian and Dutch law. In order to provide a critical discussion on the circumstances that might justify the establishment of an anonymous witness system in Sweden, the current problems of organized crime in Sweden as well as a few legal arguments in the debate, are presented.

The use of anonymous witnesses is permitted in The European Convention of Human Rights, according to judgements settled in The European Court of Justice. Even so, the use still constitutes a breach on fundamental principles and procedural guarantees established in Swedish criminal law. Moreover, it cannot be established that anonymous testimonies would provide a higher clearance rate in organized crimes. Due to a comparison of interests in the main functions of the criminal procedures, there are reasons to believe that the use of anonymous witnesses in Swedish criminal law would impair the procedural guarantees of the defendant and simultaneously not increase the crime-solving efficiency. Other measures are suggested, as they do not restrain the accused’s procedural guarantees. Despite the need to maneuver the increasing problem with gang violence and the responsibility to ensure the protection of the witness, this essay finds that there are not enough reasons for a use of anonymous witnesses as a solution to the problem with organized crimes. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Riksdagsdebatten om gängvåldet i Sverige har resulterat i ett förslag om en tillsatt utredning kring ett införande av möjligheten att vittna anonymt. Utredningen, som nu tas vidare av regeringen, är en av flera åtgärder som vidtas för att bryta tystnadskulturen inom organiserad brottslighet.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att utreda om det finns tillräckliga skäl för en användning av anonyma vittnen, som en lösning på problemet med den organiserade brottsligheten i Sverige. Uppsatsen redogör för relevant svensk lagstiftning såväl som för berörd europarättslig, norsk och nederländsk rätt. För att ur ett kritiskt perspektiv diskutera de skäl som torde kunna berättiga införandet av ett system med anonyma vittnen i Sverige, redogörs för... (More)
Riksdagsdebatten om gängvåldet i Sverige har resulterat i ett förslag om en tillsatt utredning kring ett införande av möjligheten att vittna anonymt. Utredningen, som nu tas vidare av regeringen, är en av flera åtgärder som vidtas för att bryta tystnadskulturen inom organiserad brottslighet.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att utreda om det finns tillräckliga skäl för en användning av anonyma vittnen, som en lösning på problemet med den organiserade brottsligheten i Sverige. Uppsatsen redogör för relevant svensk lagstiftning såväl som för berörd europarättslig, norsk och nederländsk rätt. För att ur ett kritiskt perspektiv diskutera de skäl som torde kunna berättiga införandet av ett system med anonyma vittnen i Sverige, redogörs för nuvarande problematik inom organiserad brottslighet i Sverige och en del rättsliga argument som framhävts i debatten kring ämnet.

En användning av anonyma vittnesmål är tillåten i Europakonventionen, enligt Europadomstolens utformade praxis. Trots det innebär användningen fortfarande ett avsteg från grundläggande principer och den rättssäkerhet som nuvarande svensk straffprocessrätt vilar på. Det kan därutöver inte visas att införandet av anonyma vittnesmål i svensk rätt skulle ge en högre uppklarningsprocent inom organiserad brottslighet. Utifrån en intresseavvägning mellan straffprocessens huvudsakliga funktioner, finns anledning att tro att användningen av anonyma vittnen i svensk rätt skulle underminera rättssäkerheten utan att effektivisera brottsbekämpningen. Det finns även alternativa åtgärder för en lösning på problemet, som samtidigt inte inskränker den tilltalades rättssäkerhet. Trots behovet av att lösa det eskalerande problemet med gängvåldet och ansvaret att tillförsäkra skydd för vittnet, finns inte enligt denna uppsats tillräckliga skäl för en användning av anonyma vittnen som lösning på problematiken med den organiserade brottsligheten. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Jönsson, Julia LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20192
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
processrätt, straffrätt, rättsvetenskap
language
Swedish
id
8999363
date added to LUP
2020-03-28 10:52:17
date last changed
2020-03-28 10:52:17
@misc{8999363,
  abstract     = {{The parliamentary debate on the gang violence in Sweden resulted in a proposal for an assigned investigation on the introducing of an opportunity to testify anonymously. The investigation, which is now led on by the government, is one of several measures taken in order to end the culture of silence in organized criminality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are enough reasons for a use of anonymous witnesses, as a way of solving the problems with organized crime in Sweden. The essay presents applicable Swedish legislation as well as concerned European, Norwegian and Dutch law. In order to provide a critical discussion on the circumstances that might justify the establishment of an anonymous witness system in Sweden, the current problems of organized crime in Sweden as well as a few legal arguments in the debate, are presented.

The use of anonymous witnesses is permitted in The European Convention of Human Rights, according to judgements settled in The European Court of Justice. Even so, the use still constitutes a breach on fundamental principles and procedural guarantees established in Swedish criminal law. Moreover, it cannot be established that anonymous testimonies would provide a higher clearance rate in organized crimes. Due to a comparison of interests in the main functions of the criminal procedures, there are reasons to believe that the use of anonymous witnesses in Swedish criminal law would impair the procedural guarantees of the defendant and simultaneously not increase the crime-solving efficiency. Other measures are suggested, as they do not restrain the accused’s procedural guarantees. Despite the need to maneuver the increasing problem with gang violence and the responsibility to ensure the protection of the witness, this essay finds that there are not enough reasons for a use of anonymous witnesses as a solution to the problem with organized crimes.}},
  author       = {{Jönsson, Julia}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Släckt rättssäkerhet för en knäckt gängkriminalitet? - Om anonyma vittnen som lösning på organiserad brottslighet}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}