Even though Sweden is internationally recognized for its penal exceptionalism, repressive criminal justice tendencies have long been present, and these policies have often disproportionately affected ethnic minorities (Barker, 2012). In 2022 a new right-wing coalition government was elected in Sweden. With a background in extensive political discourse surrounding the effects and harms of immigration and organized crime, the government made it a priority to restructure Sweden’s criminal justice policy. The focus of this restructuring is largely an attempt to combat the increase and escalation of organized crime related violence in the form of shootings and bombings that Sweden has seen during the last decade. Examples of the main areas of focus for the restructuring of criminal justice policy are increased severity of punishments and the development of more efficient tools for police and crime fighting authorities. Among these tools are various coercive measures, such as the introduction of security zones.
Security zones are based on a Danish model of visitation zones and are geographically and temporally limited stop-and-search zones, in which the police have expanded abilities to stop-and-search people and vehicles. A security zone can be implemented if there is, as a result of conflict between groups, a tangible risk for criminal activity involving shootings or bombings in the area. Since the implementation, Sweden has had a total of six security zones in five different cities.
Security zones have received a large amount of criticism. It was early on feared that the zones would mainly be implemented in vulnerable areas, which are areas with low socio-economic status and where criminal individuals have a large impact on the community. This has so far been true since the majority of security zones have been implemented in vulnerable areas. It is also important to note that the majority of residents in these vulnerable areas have a foreign background (The Global Village, 2019). Hence, the criticism mainly surrounds the increased risk for discrimination based on ethnic and religious background, as well as the potential stigmatization of already vulnerable areas that the zones may entail. Furthermore, Danish visitation zones have never been evaluated, and research shows inconsistent results regarding the crime preventative effects of stop-and-search. It is therefore important that security zones are evaluated, not only to establish their effects on crime but also to examine other potential consequences of the legislation. As a first step in this evaluation, interviews have been conducted with police officers who have worked in a security zone.
In my interviews, it has become apparent that while stop-and-searches are certainly being carried out in the zones, the main perceived benefit of security zones is not the expanded possibility for police to use coercive measures, but rather the expanded possibility for police to work towards building relationships with residents in the areas. Many officers described how, instead of conducting stop-and-searches, they would spend their time in security zones speaking with citizens and knocking on doors. This highlights how the practical implications of repressive criminal justice policies (and police work in general) are shaped by the intentions of the individuals implementing them. In conclusion, while security zones risk having discriminatory and stigmatizing effects, especially for Sweden’s ethnic minorities, they could also be used for relationship building purposes, depending on the intentions of the police implementing and working in the zones.
Author biography:
Tove Strömberg Rask is a PhD-student at the Department of Police Work, Malmö University, with a focus on the study of legitimacy and procedural justice, and the evaluation of security zones.
Contact information: tove.stromberg-rask@mau.se