The Washington Post published The A$AP Rocky case shows why we should be inspired and troubled by Sweden’s justice system, an essay by Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Literature Doran Larson on July 30. Director of the American Prison Writing Archive, he is the author of Witness in the Era of Mass Incarceration: Discovering the Ethical Prison and editor of Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America.
Larson's essay focuses on "the Nordic criminal justice model and the lessons it has for our own flawed system," as he reviews the pending assault case against American rapper A$AP Rocky. He points to a "pragmatic, results-oriented system" that depends on research in making decisions as opposed to the "American justice system [that] has been politicized and racialized," from its founding.
In concluding his opinion piece, Larson suggests, "In the meantime, what the president and other supporters of A$AP Rocky should consider is that Sweden’s system, for all its flaws, might be a better example of 'fairness' than our own."