Penalties in the Swedish justice system are humane. Even serious crimes only renders 5-10 years of prison time. Conditions in prisons are far better than the US. Prisoners have private rooms, gym and better food than elderly citizens.
The US system have far too severe penalties. Sentences of 10-100 years are now common. Conditions in prisons are horrible with rampant drug abuse, violence and even murders.
However, the Swedish prosecutors and courts are banana republic quality. Look at the Assange parody for an example. A Swedish prosecutor may invent almost anything as evidence, even a photoshopped screenshot - because ANYTHING can be submitted as evidence in a Swedish court. There is even a recent drug case where the Swedish police illegaly put GPS surveillance on a suspected drug trafficker. The court recognizes the police did this illegaly, but the GPS data is still allowed as evidence. This is called "fri bevisföring" in Swedish. The courts are made up by politically chosen representatives, not a jury, which further contributes to the banana republic sentencing.
So - justice is more blind in Sweden, but she is slapping you on the wrist, instead of decapitating you.
Yes, Sweden has "fri bevisföring". And why not? If evidence proves that someone is a criminal, it is not less true it was retrieved by controversial means. "Fri bevisföring" means that the court makes the decision whether the evidence is valid, based on circumstances in the case in question.
Because it means that restrictions on search and seizure aren't worth the paper they're written on. If you're a police officer, why wouldn't you illegally search or track someone if you think it'll help you get a conviction? There's fuck-all chance you're going to get in trouble for it, your bosses and the prosecutors care just as much about nailing the guy as you do.
Where would you draw the line? Why not simply monitor and track everyone everywhere all the time because hey they if they did something wrong then you'd be good to go with the proof... and we all know if you don't do anything criminal you don't have anything to hide...
My knowledge of how the US systems works in practise is limited, but as draugadrotten says in another comment - the penal system of Sweden is in general preferable to US.
But when it comes to legal security it really is much harder choice but I think I would prefer to face the US justice system in all "normal" criminal cases.
If the word terrorism was anywhere near the case I'm not so sure any more.
