In Sweden, individuals who claim they have been wrongfully convicted can apply for post-conviction review. However, researchers have argued that the path towards exoneration is filled with barriers that some may overcome, while others do not, regardless of the actual merits of the wrongful conviction claim. In this study, I explore the tension between the intuitively reasonable tendency of applicants to blame the criminal justice system for causing the wrongful conviction and the potential limitations in the structure and application of the post-conviction review remedy regarding the accountability of the justice system itself. This is achieved by means of a case study focused on a decade-long struggle that resulted in an individual (NN) being exonerated after serving 13 years of his lifetime imprisonment sentence. NN claimed that he had been wrongly convicted of murder due to failings and errors within the justice system, but was eventually exonerated on grounds that had nothing to do with the criminal justice process or the actions of the legal actors involved. I also discuss the support NN received from lawyers and journalists, something that few other applicants have access to, which enabled him to present the type of evidence that resulted in his exoneration.

Although there is no common right to contest convictions in Europe, the prevention of miscarriages of justice plays a central part within the European legal framework and the formulation of human rights, and scholars have described the conviction of innocents as one of the biggest justice gaps in contemporary society. However, little attention has been focused on directing a critical gaze at the legal path individuals are obliged to take towards possible exoneration, i.e. the post-conviction review process. Drawing on legal claims relating to potentially wrongful convictions in Sweden, the aim of this article is to examine the accessibility of this remedy. The findings were studied through the lens of access-to-justice theory and illustrate the difficulties these persons have formulating a satisfactory application unless they receive legal support. This suggests that, in practice, having access to the review remedy is in many cases equivalent to having access to legal assistance. Yet convicted persons are generally not entitled to any legal support once the appellate procedure has come to an end. The worst-case scenario is that a lack of resources may result in potentially innocent persons remaining convicted for crimes they have not committed.

One way of investigating the phenomenon of wrongful convictions is to study the road to exoneration. In some respects, the post-conviction review process lies at the heart of the wrongful conviction issue, since this is where alleged miscarriages of justice are either acknowledged or rejected. However, the number and characteristics of the criminal cases that pass through the Swedish post-conviction review process are unknown. Against this background, the overarching objective of the present article is to provide an empirical basis for an informed discussion of wrongful convictions. More specifically, this article examines wrongful conviction claims and the judicial outcomes of these claims over a one-year period. The findings are discussed in relation to the view that the operation of the post-conviction process may be understood as a means by which the legal system may preserve its legitimacy. It is also discussed why there is a need for more transparency in this particular part of the criminal justice system.

Older people’s travel behaviour is affected by negative or positive critical incidents in the public transport environment. With the objective of identifying such incidents during whole trips and examining how travel behaviour had changed, we have conducted in-depth interviews with 30 participants aged 65–91 years in the County of Stockholm, Sweden. Out of 469 incidents identified, 77 were reported to have resulted in travel behaviour change, 67 of them in a negative way. Most critical incidents were encountered in the physical environment on-board vehicles and at stations/stops as well as in pricing/ticketing. The findings show that more personal assistance, better driving behaviour, and swift maintenance of elevators and escalators are key facilitators that would improve predictability in travelling and enhance vulnerable older travellers’ feeling of security. The results demonstrate the benefit of involving different groups of end users in future planning and design, such that transport systems would meet the various needs of its end users.