Indicator history

 A Government report was published during 2006 concerning police and discrimination. This report was published by the Government inquiry on Power, Integration and Structural Discrimination and was titled ‘Is justice fair? - Ten perspectives on discrimination of ethnic and religious minorities within the justice system’ (Är rättvisan rättvis? Tio perspektiv på diskriminering av etniska och religiösa minoriteter inom rättssystemet). The aim of this report was to examine structural discrimination in the judicial system. The report shows evidence of differential sentencing, failure of courts to provide effective protection for migrants and that structural discrimination exists throughout the Swedish justice system; from the first contact with the police to the final court judgement. 

Regarding police investigations, the report showed that most investigations are rarely closed for people of Swedish and Nordic background (between 35 and 37 percent of cases), while investigations usually are closed concerning people born in Africa and the Middle Middle East including Turkey (between 50 and 52 percent of cases) (Johan Kardell, Diskriminering i rättsväsendet av personer med utländsk bakgrund – en kvantitativ analys), http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/05/99/25/b5f0640b.pdf (accessed 2012-03-10).

The results from the report show that regarding court  judgments, people with non-European backgrounds are at almost three times more likely than persons of Swedish background to be sentenced to imprisonment for serious sexual offenses, assault and aggravated assault (Pettersson, Tove; Särbehandlas gärningspersoner med utländsk bakgrund vid anmälningar om våldtäkter, grov misshandel och eget bruk av narkotika?),  http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/05/99/25/b5f0640b.pdf (accessed 2012-03-10).