Capital punishment in Sweden 5077093 217943945 2008-06-08T12:38:45Z Konstantin 90467 /* See also */ {{capital punishment}} '''[[Capital punishment]] in [[Sweden]]''' ([[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''Dödsstraff'') was practiced up until [[1910]]. It is now forbidden by the [[Swedish Constitution]] which clearly states: "''There shall be no capital punishment''". == Dates for abolishment of the death penalty == * Capital punishment was abolished for all crimes committed during peace on [[June 30]], [[1921]]. * Capital punishment was abolished for all crimes, including those committed in time of war, on [[January 1]], [[1976]]. The clause that prohibits the death penalty has been a part of the Constitution since [[1975]]. Sweden is a state party to the Second Optional Protocol to [[ICCPR]] (ratified in 1910), Protocol No. 6 to [[ECHR]] (1984), and Protocol No. 13 to ECHR (2003).<ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr-death.htm Second Optional Protocol] to ICCPR; [http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=114&CM=8&DF=1/28/2008&CL=ENG Protocol No. 6] and [http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=187&CM=8&DF=1/28/2008&CL=ENG Protocol No. 13] to ECHR - text of the treaties, dates of signatures and ratifications</ref> == Titles == Two titles were used for the official who carried out the execution. ''Skarprättare'', who carried out beheadings and ''Bödel'' who carried out hangings by the neck and other types of capital punishment. Until the beginning of the 19th century hanging by the neck was reserved for commoners and beheadings reserved for nobles. During the 19th century each [[landskap]] (and [[Stockholm]]) had an appointed executioner who travelled the area to carry out executions. In [[1900]] a ''riksskarprättare'' was 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]]). == Last execution == [[Johan Alfred Ander]] was the last person to be executed in Sweden. He was sentenced to death for a murder during the course of a robbery that was committed in January [[1910]]. His sentence was not commuted and he was executed [[November 23]] at [[Långholmen]] in [[Stockholm]] using 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. {{Fact|date=January 2008}} === Last execution of a woman === The last woman executed was [[Anna Månsdotter]], who was executed on [[August 7]] [[1890]] by [[decapitation]] by an [[axe]]. Månsdotter and her son Per Nilsson had murdered Per's wife, Hanna Johansdotter. Månsdotter was also involved in an [[incest]]uous relationship with her son, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released later (1914). === Last public executions === The last public executions in [[Sweden]] were carried out [[May 18]] [[1876]]. Both executions, by means of beheading, are supposed to have been carried out at the same time in the morning, at 7. The executed were Konrad Lundqvist Petterson Tector and 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]].<ref>[http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slbrott_hjert-tector.htm Brott och straff - Hjert och Tector<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> === Last use of other method than beheading === The last time other method than beheading was practiced was in [[1836]] and the method used was [[hanging]] by the neck. Hanging was available as a form of capital punishment until the Penal Code of [[1864]] removed that option. === Last execution for other crime than murder === The last time a death sentence was carried out for any other crime than murder was on [[August 10]] [[1853]] when Mårten Pehrsson was executed for aggravated assault at Rögla (near [[Ystad]]).<ref>[http://www.genealogi.se/avrattade/form.php Nättidningen RÖTTER - för dig som släktforskar! (Avrättade)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The last execution carried out for a non-fatal assault was on [[March 29]] [[1837]], when Anders Gustav Lindberg was beheaded in [[Stockholm]]. == Number of executions during 1800-1866, 1867-1921 == Between [[1800]] and [[1866]], 644 executions were carried out in Sweden.<ref>[http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slbrott.htm Brott och straff<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 1864, the Penal Code was 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 people were executed (out of ca 120 sentenced). The only crime that after 1864 carried the death penalty without any other sentencing possible (absolute capital punishment) was the slaying of a prison guard by a prisoner serving life sentence. Two of the executions carried out after 1864 were for this crime; the execution of Jonas Magnus Jonasson Borg in 1866 and the execution of Carl Otto Andersson in 1872. == 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 group shows anything but a majority against capital punishment.<ref>http://theses.lub.lu.se/archive/2005/05/23/1116838386-25347-80/buppsats.pdf</ref><ref>[http://www.metro.se/se/article/2006/11/07/08/2045-23/index.xml?print=1 Metro: 4 out of 10 favour Saddam's death - in Swedish]</ref> ==See also== *[[Use of death penalty worldwide]] * [[Crime in Sweden]] ==References== <references /> {{Capital punishment in Europe}} [[Category:Swedish law]] [[Category:Capital punishment by country|Sweden]] [[Category:Swedish society]] [[sv:Dödsstraff i Sverige]]