Nämndemännens representation - En studie av nämndemannasystemets dimensioner av representation

Sammanfattning: One of the core purposes of the Swedish “nämndemannasystem” is to act as representatives of the public in the court systems. The representation aspect of the “nämndemannasystem” has though been declared non-existent or too weak by previous research and the general debate in society, on the ground of its pictorial composition. However, the concept of representation is not that simple as depicted by this reasoning, several other forms of representation exist other than this one. This thesis aims to reveal what other forms of representation “nämndemannasystemet” has as a goal in governmental committee reports and government propositions between the years 2002-2014. As a help to categorize the different aspects of representation and dimensions of representation the study uses Hannah Pitkin´s theoretical framework of the most commonly used perspectives of representation in the book The Concept of Representation. This thesis finds that multiple forms of representation can be seen as goals for the representation of the “nämndemannasystem” in different aspects of representation. Which different forms of representation that can be seen as a goal also changes with time. The representation out of the pictorial composition however cannot be seen as the main goal of representation in the Swedish “nämndemannasystem”.