Perpetrators Given House Arrest for Gay Bashing

On 24 March 2008, two gay men were brutally attacked at a Stockholm underground station. The court acknowledges that they were kicked and beaten for no other reason than being gay and therefore considers it a hate crime. Despite this, the court sentences the perpetrators to four months in prison, which, in reality, means no time at all. They will serve two or three months in house arrest—that’s it.

I have been a lay juror for two years now, and I know people are sentences to more than twice as many months in prison for non-violent crimes like possession of narcotics and attempts to buy service from a prostitute. In my opinion, the Swedish system is perverse. The legislators obviously care more about punishing recreational drug users and sex-buying johns than they do about the lives and safety of hate-crime victims.

I honestly don’t see any reason why gay people should go to the police after being attacked. We would be much better off if we learned to fight back.