NCJ Number
209374
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: 2004 Pages: 220-235
Date Published
2004
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article evaluates how the police, prosecutors, and the courts deal with violence against women in Scandinavian countries and presents the results from an evaluation of restraining orders in Sweden.
Abstract
In the Scandinavian countries, there has been a consensus over the last decade that society must place a higher priority on violence in intimate relationships. There is the need for both harsher sanctions for men who assault and more shelters and support services for battered women. This article summarizes some of the research on violence against women conducted in Sweden over the last few years and describes how the criminal justice system, as a whole, and the police in particular, deal with this new offense of “gross violation of a woman’s integrity” introduced into the Swedish penal code in 1998. Under this new penal code, less serious but repeated acts committed by a man against a present or former female partner are to be judged as one serious offense with a sanction of imprisonment between 6 months and 6 years. In addition, results from an evaluation of restraining orders are presented and discussed. References