Capital punishment in Sweden

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Capital punishment in Sweden (sv:Dödsstraff) was practiced up until 1910 but has since then become illegal according to the Swedish Constitution which clearly states: "There shall be no capital punishment".

Contents 1 Dates for abolishment of the death penalty 2 Titles 3 Last execution 3.1 Last execution of a woman 3.2 Last public executions 3.3 Last use of other method than beheading 3.4 Last execution for other crime than murder 4 Number of executions during 1800-1866, 1867-1921 5 Attitude towards capital punishment in the general public 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Dates for abolishment of the death penalty

• Capital punishment was abolished for all crimes committed during peace on March 6, 1921.
• Capital punishment was abolished for all crimes, including those committed in time of war, on January 1, 1972.

The clause that prohibits the death penalty has been a part of the Constitution since 1975. Sweden has also signed the Protocol 6 and the other optional protocol of ICCPR^[1].

[edit] Titles

Two titles were used for the official that carried out the execution. Skarprättare, who carried out beheadings and Bödel who carried out hangings by the neck and other types capital punishment. Until the beginning of the 19th century hanging by the neck where reserved for commoners and beheadings reserved for nobles. During the 19th century each landskap (and Stockholm) had a appointed executioner who travelled the area to carry out executions. 1900 a riksskarprättare were appointed (a position that was filled by the last executioner Albert Gustaf Dahlman who until then had been responsible for carrying out executions in Stockholm).

[edit] Last execution

Johan Alfred Ander was the last person to be executed in Sweden. He was sentenced to death for a murder with robbery that was performed in January 1910. His sentence was not commuted and he was executed November 23 at Långholmen in Stockholm with a guillotine. That was the only time a guillotine was used in Sweden. The executioner was Albert Gustaf Dahlman, who died in 1920. At his death at average high age, he was the last of all executioners in Sweden. It has been suggested that the difficulties in finding a person to carry out this kind of work might have been one of the reasons for the abolishment of capital punishment one year later.

[edit] Last execution of a woman

The last woman executed was Anna Månsdotter, who was executed in August 8, 1890 by axe decapitation. Månsdotter and her son Per Nilsson had murdered Pers wife, Hanna Johansdotter. Månsdotter was also involved in an incestuous relationsship with her son, who was convicted to life imprisonment but released some years later.

[edit] Last public executions

The last public executions in Sweden were carried out May 18, 1876. Both executions are supposed to have been carried out at the same time in the morning, at 7. The executed were Konrad Lundqvist Petterson Tector och Gustav Erikson Hjert and the executions were carried out at Stenkumla Backe near Visby and at Lidamon (near Malmköping). Both had been sentenced to death for the same crime, a failed robbery against a stagecoach in Östergötland two years earlier, which resulted in the murder of one of the passengers and the driver of the coach. The executions were carried out by Per Petter Christiansson Steineck and Johan Fredrik Hjort^[2].

[edit] Last use of other method than beheading

The last time any other method than beheading were practiced were 1836 and the method used were hanging by the neck. The option to use hanging by the neck as a capital punishment were however there until the penalty code of 1866.

[edit] Last execution for other crime than murder

The last time death penalty were carried out for any other crime than murder was August 10, 1853 when Mårten Pehrsson were executed for aggravated assault at Rögla (near Ystad)^[3]. The last execution carried out for a non-fatal assault were March 29, 1837, when Anders Gustav Lindberg were beheaded in Stockholm.

[edit] Number of executions during 1800-1866, 1867-1921

Between 1800 and 1866, 644 executions were carried out in Sweden^[4]. In 1866 the penalty code were reformed, and the use of capital punishment got more restricted. In the following years (from 1866) up until the abolishment of the death penalty in 1921 fifteen persons were executed.

[edit] Attitude towards capital punishment in the general public

The support for capital punishment in Sweden varies between 30-40%. A 2006 study from SIFO shows that 36% of the population believes that there are crimes that should be punished by death. Support is in general more common amongst young males, but no age groups shows nothing but a majority against capital punishment^[5][6].

[edit] See also

• Use of death penalty worldwide

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.geocities.com/richard.clark32@btinternet.com/europe.html
2. ^ http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slbrott_hjert-tector.htm
3. ^ http://www.genealogi.se/avrattade/form.php
4. ^ http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slbrott.htm
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ [2]