A recent report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet – Brå) shows that prosecutors face more acts of intimidation designed to affect their work than any other group within the Swedish criminal justice system.

And the incidence of harassment is increasing, according to the crime prevention council, most likely because of prosecutors’ heightened efforts to take on organized crime and because they are doing a better job of reporting the threats.

The increase in harassment has led some prosecutors to avoid certain cases and decisions, or to reconsider their carrier choice, Council for Crime Prevention investigator Johanna Skinnar told Sveriges Radio (SR).

“We see some answers that indicate there is real concern at some workplaces. People need to work very hard to reduce self-censorship there,” she told SR.

In the crime prevention council’s survey, which includes responses from 1,100 judges and prosecutors, nearly one in four – 21 percent – report that they were the victim of threats, harassment, violence, or vandalism in the last 18 months which they believed was meant to disrupt their work.

Four years ago, the corresponding figure was 11 percent.