4 Chapter 4 Female Detectives and Lawyers and Their Involvement Within Sweden’s Society

            In Asa Larsson’s novel, Sun Storm, she exemplifies that there are two main heroines playing a big role. Those two characters are Rebecka Martinsson who is a tax specialist and Anna-Maria Mella who is a female pregnant police officer. In today’s society, Sweden has had above average number of female detectives and they are portrayed in a lot of Swedish novels. Not only that but also, anyone can call themselves a lawyer and present in front of the court, but if they can’t find a lawyer, they will be granted an accredited member from the Swedish Bar Association.

Over the last few decades, Sweden has had a steady volume of female detectives. According to The Local Se, more Swedish women wanted to be cops and in 2009, it was the first time that females actually outnumbered the men among new recruits at the Swedish National Police Academy (Simpson). Although there were more than half of the recruits as female, by the end of the last semester of training that number dwindled. The start class of females was at 51%, but it went down to 40 percent, and since 2000 that number has fluctuated from 35-44 percent (Simpson). As of 2016, the total percentage of hired female police officer was 43 percent, but 32 percent were sworn in (Hedstrom, pg. 33). Comparing that to the U.S. According to the FBI 2017 reports that 60 percent were hired, but only 12.1 percent were sworn police officers (Hedstrom, pg. 27). This statistic displays how more popular it is to become a female office in Sweden rather than the U.S. One reason that I believe it might have a say in this higher number, it can be influenced by the high number of Swedish novels that contain a female investigator. For example, one of the most famous female detective novels comes from a Swedish author, by the name of Stieg Larsson. She wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which would later be the start to a trilogy and those would become global best sellers and a popular movie nationwide (Parks-Ramage). In this novel, Lisbeth Salander came from a rough background, but uses here hacker abilities along with here intense intelligence and photographic memory to help find answers to unsolved crimes. Another novel that displays a female detective other that Sun Storm is a series from Liza Marklund, about a journalist named Annika Bengtzon. In this series, Annika is not a police officer, nor does she work for any security personnel, but she looks back at past and current crimes and helps solve them with her reporting (Book Series in Order, 20). With all this influential work in Sweden about female detectives, more females are growing up reading these novels and are going to want to become heroines like they have read about as a child.

When we first met Rebecka Martinsson in Sun Storm, she was called by Sanna Strandgård, who was the sister of the recent murder victim, Viktor Strandgård. What we do know about Rebecka is that she is a tax specialist who works at a Prosecution office, Meijer and Ditzinger. At first when Rebecka did go to Kiruna, she was only going to see how Sanna and the kids are and to make sure she goes in for her interview with the police. But by the time she is wanting to leave to go back home, Sanna wants Rebecka to be her lawyer after she was under arrest at the airport and there is a slight problem with that. “I’m a tax specialist. I don’t deal with criminal cases. If you need a public defender, I can help you get hold of someone good” (Larsson, 125). But Sanna insisted that only Rebecka can help her not only with the case, but also the kids, and with that being said anyone can actually become a lawyer in Sweden. According to the Law Society, “There is no monopoly of legal services in Sweden. Any person may practice law, offering his services to the public. Any person may call himself a lawyer, regardless of any law degree or any other formal education… Anyone may appear before any court, on any level of the court system, representing himself or another person” (Scandinavian Law). This statement explains the opportunity to for Rebecka to become Sanna’s lawyer despite her background not being in law of any sort. Sweden’s lawyer situation is different compared to the United States, because to become a lawyer in the U.S. you will go through law school, which is typically seven years and then you will need to complete a Juris Doctor that is accredited by the American Bar Association. One last claim that I can discuss about the lawyer’s involvement within Sweden is that although anyone can become a lawyer without valid accreditation, Sweden has an association that is similar to the American Bar Association, called the Swedish Bar Association. If Rebecka wouldn’t have agreed to become Sanna’s lawyer, the Swedish Bar Association would’ve been the destination of a possible accredited lawyer. The Swedish Bar Association was created in the late 1800s, in efforts to do away with the shady reputation and the bad standards that were characterizing many of the legal representatives (“Scandinavian Law”). In doing so, the Bar started out as a voluntary association where they would academically train lawyers to improve the administration of the justice system and increase the prestigiousness of the profession. There are also numerous requirements that you must have to become an accredited member, those are; “is domiciled in Sweden or another state within the European Union or the European Economic Area or Switzerland, has passed all proficiency exams required for a judge’s office, has completed the practical and theoretical training required for a member of the Bar, is become known for his integrity, and is also in other respects considered suitable to practice as a member of the Bar” (“Scandinavian Law”).  With that being said, what if Rebecka and Sanna were to go through the whole court process. How well would Rebecka do and would she be viewed differently because she wasn’t an accredited lawyer? Could this have affected Sanna’s chances of becoming innocent or guilty? This situation could lead to a bunch of unanswered questions, but through more violence, the answer became clear without further legal actions and brought innocence within the novel.

In conclusion, Sun Storm displayed a lot of heroic actions by multiple female characters. Rebecka and Anna-Maria tried to their best to keep Sanna and her kids safe, but in doing so put them in more danger. In Sweden’s society, female detectives are not something that is uncommon. About half of the police officers are females compared the United States 12%. With the Swedish literature possibly being an influence on these females as younger kids, that could be a reason why that number is higher than other countries. Not only that but the justice system let’s anyone become a lawyer no matter their qualifications and background. But if someone does not have a lawyer, the Swedish Bar Association will grant them an accredited lawyer who is qualified for defending.

Works Cited

Hedstrom, Josefin, “The American and Swedish Criminal Justice System: A Comparative Study.” School of Graduate Studies East Tennessee State University, East Tennessee State University, May. 2018, https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4835&context=etd (Links to an external site.).

Larsson Åsa, and Marlaine Delargy. Sun Storm. Delacorte Press, 2007.

“Liza Marklund.” Book Series in Order, Book Series in Order, 15 July 2014, https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/liza-marklund/ (Links to an external site.).

Parks-Ramage, Jonathan. “Female Dicks: A History of Women Detectives Challenging the Patriarchy.” Vice, 24 Oct. 2016, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evgdxw/a-history-of-women-detectives-challenging-the-patriarchy (Links to an external site.).

Simpson, TT/Peter Vinthagen. “More Swedish Women Want to Be Cops.” The Local, The Local, 20 Jan. 2009, https://www.thelocal.se/20090120/17036 (Links to an external site.).

“The Swedish Bar Association”, Stockholm Institute for Scandinavian Law, Scandinavian Law, 2010, https://www.scandinavianlaw.se/pdf/46-18.pdf (Links to an external site.).