ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Nordic legal system in comparison to the American legal system. It follows the three headings: investigation issues; the adversarial v. inquisitorial models; and the courts. Both the police and the public prosecution office in the Nordic countries have to be objective in their investigation. Interviewing is, on most occasions, a kind of free-flowing, non-accusatory meeting or discussion used to gather information. The inquisitorial model is described as an old European system where a judge, or panel of judges, takes the lead in developing the case at trial. The criminal courts remain fairly passive throughout the whole proceeding, although the judge may clarify ambiguities and fill in gaps in the trial documents by posing questions to the parties. The chapter concludes that the criminal procedure in the Nordic countries can be placed somewhere in between the continental model of criminal procedure containing some inquisitorial elements, and the Anglo-American model with its prevailing adversarial character.
