DIS Blog
Exploring justice and punishment in Stockholm and Iceland
“My class challenged me to think more expansively about how I perceive justice. In both Sweden and Iceland, it offered me the chance to view justice through a completely new philosophical lens, one that often stood in stark contrast to the American structures I’m familiar with.”
Summer Blogger Cadence (she/her) spent Session 2 studying the psychology of the courtroom and justice systems through classes in Stockholm and a Study Tour to Iceland. Read below for the story of her chaotic first few days, and how she began to grow and adapt both academically and personally throughout the session.
My summer abroad started with the kind of chaotic travel story you only expect to see in fiction or film.
I arrived with almost nothing aside from the clothes on my back and my dear friend’s copy of Jazz by Toni Morrison. It’s the kind of cliché I never thought I’d actually live out: stepping off a plane in a brand new country, jet-lagged and disoriented, without my suitcase and with no idea when it might show up. I’ve struggled to figure out just how to write about those first impressions, but maybe it was because I didn’t quite know how to capture all the messiness and magic of those first few days.
About the blogger
Cadence (she/her) is a junior at Smith College. This summer she studied Guilt or Not Guilty? Psychology in the Courtroom (Session 2) and Food, Migration, and Belonging (Session 3).
But the truth is, that chaotic arrival set the tone in ways I didn’t expect, thrusting me out of my comfort zone from the get-go and, in hindsight, teaching me more than I could possibly imagine.
The whirlwind of my time in Stockholm was grounded by the little rituals I created for myself, walking to class with my friends every morning at 8:30 a.m. sharp, enjoying the afternoon Swedish sun, or preparing the broccoli for our group dinners.
For Session 2 I took Guilty or Not Guilty? Psychology in the Courtroom, a course that anchored my weekdays as a place of routine, while also challenging me to think more expansively about how I perceive justice. This course offered me the chance to view justice through a completely new philosophical lens, one that often stood in stark contrast to the American structures I’m familiar with.
Our class adopted a comparative approach, digging into the specific cultural differences in everything from attitudes toward the police to the structure of a prison system. One of the most eye-opening moments came during our Study Tour to Iceland when we interviewed local residents about their perceptions of justice and punishment.
Hearing how Icelanders conceptualized justice, and the balance between punitive and restorative responsibility, pushed me to reconsider the assumptions I unconsciously brought to the table. I was reminded that it’s easy to romanticize or criticize a system that isn’t your own, but a more meaningful approach involves paying close attention to context and resisting the urge to simplify.
My favorite academic visit was our tour of Hólmsheið Prison, located just outside of Reykjavik. Walking through the brightly lit hallways, we saw the Icelandic approach to incarceration firsthand, one grounded in dignity and rehabilitation. We spoke with officers who emphasized their roles not as enforcers or order, but as facilitators of reintegration.
Of course, Study Tour isn’t only the academics. We also rode Icelandic horses through the countryside (an experience made more surreal by the frequent patches of rain), and ended one of our longest days with the famous seven-step relaxation ritual at the Sky Lagoon. It was indulgent in the best way, but also restorative, both physically and emotionally. After many days filled with deep and heavy conversations about legal systems and human behavior, that evening in the lagoon felt like an intentional pause, a reminder that rest and reflection are part of the learning process too.
We made our way back to Stockholm and immediately began applying our newfound knowledge in the classroom. A major benefit from our Study Tour was the comfortability it helped us reach as a class. Dinners, hikes, and horse rides can quickly bond a group of strangers. Our last week of class was filled with interactive projects designed to enhance our comprehension. We reenacted a trial to better understand how misinformation shapes the presentation of testimony, and we participated in a a lie detection exercise to uncover the misconceptions that both judges and juries are susceptible to when it comes to assessing nonverbal behavior.
Outside of the classroom, I learned how to lean into the freedom of anonymity.
At my small school, everyone is connected in some way, making independent exploration difficult when there’s a familiar face at every turn. My newfound international independence granted me the freedom to make more than a few silly mistakes (like the $19 glass of wine I accidentally ordered one night). I chalked these blunders up as essential (but nevertheless painful) parts of the learning curve. As I learned how to laugh through my mistakes, I felt like I was making space for parts of myself I didn’t always have room for in more familiar settings.
As I write this blog post, I’m looking back at my Stockholm bucket list for inspiration about what experiences and stories to include, but I found that my eye more was more drawn to items I didn’t end up to checking off.
It’s strange, in some ways, to say goodbye to a place before you’ve had the chance to truly know it. Three weeks isn’t all that long in the grand scheme of things after all. There’s a unique kind of mourning accompanied by leaving just as things start to feel familiar. But still, there’s something meaningful in that unfinished-ness: a reminder that not every experience has to be fully realized to be deeply impactful.
