Kriminaliseringen av prostitution - rätt eller orätt? - En kriminaliseringsteoretisk analys av köp av sexuella tjänster
(2017) LAGF03 20171Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Sweden criminalized the act of buying sexual services in January 1999. The debate regarding the prohibition concerned both philosophical questions and criminal law theory. This essay aims to examine if the criminalization of prostitution can be justified on theoretical grounds: foremost from a perspective critical to penalization but also a contextualized perspective.
The first perspective requires the act to regularly cause damage on an interest. The legislator has to advocate for why the interest deserves protection. Damage is defined as a negative impact and should be separated from paternalistic damage, offence and immorality as such. “Smorgasbord” criminalization, accumulated damage and ongoing damage can all be criticized, due to... (More) - Sweden criminalized the act of buying sexual services in January 1999. The debate regarding the prohibition concerned both philosophical questions and criminal law theory. This essay aims to examine if the criminalization of prostitution can be justified on theoretical grounds: foremost from a perspective critical to penalization but also a contextualized perspective.
The first perspective requires the act to regularly cause damage on an interest. The legislator has to advocate for why the interest deserves protection. Damage is defined as a negative impact and should be separated from paternalistic damage, offence and immorality as such. “Smorgasbord” criminalization, accumulated damage and ongoing damage can all be criticized, due to a weak correlation between act and damage. The contextualized perspective, however, considers social circumstances as well. Lastly, the prohibition has to be effective. Traditionally that means a higher rate of prosecutions, alternative a decreased frequency of the act. A more controversial take is that the prohibition has a normative effect. Additionally, there should not be any other effective method.
The prohibition of purchasing sexual services has many alleged interests. Among these, common respectability and the protection of socially vulnerable can be challenged. An equal society, sexual integrity and autonomy along with the interest of preventing organized crime are sufficiently argued for but can be challenged due to the requirement of damage. However, the contextualized view gives the reasoning regarding interest and damage more substance. The prohibition has, however, not resulted in enough prosecutions or fewer purchases of sexual services. It has only had a normative effect. To use the most intervening means at a state’s disposal to change the common view of a specific phenomenon has to be regarded as unacceptable. Hence, the prohibition of purchasing sexual service cannot be seen as justified. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- I januari 1999 kriminaliserade Sverige köp av sexuella tjänster. Förbudet föregicks och åtföljdes av en debatt om såväl filosofiska som straffrättsteoretiska frågor. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka om förbudet av sexköp kan rättfärdigas på en straffrättsteoretisk grund ur ett bestraffningskritiskt och ett kontextualiserat perspektiv.
Den bestraffningsbegränsande ideologin kräver att det ska finnas ett intresse vars värde kan motiveras och som regelmässigt orsakas skada av det kriminaliserade beteendet. Skada ses som negativ påverkan och ska skiljas från paternalistisk skada, obehag och omoral som sådan. Dessutom måste det finnas en stark koppling mellan gärningstypen och skadan. Smörgårdsbordskriminaliseringar, ackumulerande skador... (More) - I januari 1999 kriminaliserade Sverige köp av sexuella tjänster. Förbudet föregicks och åtföljdes av en debatt om såväl filosofiska som straffrättsteoretiska frågor. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka om förbudet av sexköp kan rättfärdigas på en straffrättsteoretisk grund ur ett bestraffningskritiskt och ett kontextualiserat perspektiv.
Den bestraffningsbegränsande ideologin kräver att det ska finnas ett intresse vars värde kan motiveras och som regelmässigt orsakas skada av det kriminaliserade beteendet. Skada ses som negativ påverkan och ska skiljas från paternalistisk skada, obehag och omoral som sådan. Dessutom måste det finnas en stark koppling mellan gärningstypen och skadan. Smörgårdsbordskriminaliseringar, ackumulerande skador och pågående skador kan samtliga kritiseras utifrån rättvisesynpunkt på grund av det svaga sambandet mellan gärning och skada. Det kontextualiserade perspektivet, däremot, väger även in sociala omständigheter. Slutligen måste kriminaliseringen vara effektiv. De traditionella tolkningarna är att gärningen i högre grad kan lagföras, alternativt att gärningsfrekvensen minskar. En kontroversiell tolkning är att kriminaliseringen ska ha en tydlig normgivande effekt. Slutligen ska det inte finnas andra effektiva metoder.
Sexköpsförbudet har många åberopade intressen. Av dessa kan allmän anständighet och skyddet av socialt utsatta ifrågasättas; övriga får anses tillräckligt motiverade. Ett jämställt samhälle, sexuell integritet och självbestämmanderätt samt att motverka organiserad brottslighet kan dock ifrågasättas när det gäller skadekriteriet. Det kontextualiserade synsättet gör dock argumentationen kring intresse och skada rimlig. Kriminaliseringen har dock varken resulterat i effektiv lagföring eller minskad frekvens, bara en normativ effekt. Att använda repressiva medel för att ändra samhällets inställning till en viss företeelse får ses som oskäligt. Kriminaliseringen av köp av sexuellt tjänster kan därför inte ses som rättfärdigad. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8908047
- author
- Danielsson, Elin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, kriminalisering, köp av sexuell tjänst, prostitution, sexköpslagen
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8908047
- date added to LUP
- 2017-06-29 11:00:12
- date last changed
- 2017-06-29 11:00:12
@misc{8908047,
abstract = {{Sweden criminalized the act of buying sexual services in January 1999. The debate regarding the prohibition concerned both philosophical questions and criminal law theory. This essay aims to examine if the criminalization of prostitution can be justified on theoretical grounds: foremost from a perspective critical to penalization but also a contextualized perspective.
The first perspective requires the act to regularly cause damage on an interest. The legislator has to advocate for why the interest deserves protection. Damage is defined as a negative impact and should be separated from paternalistic damage, offence and immorality as such. “Smorgasbord” criminalization, accumulated damage and ongoing damage can all be criticized, due to a weak correlation between act and damage. The contextualized perspective, however, considers social circumstances as well. Lastly, the prohibition has to be effective. Traditionally that means a higher rate of prosecutions, alternative a decreased frequency of the act. A more controversial take is that the prohibition has a normative effect. Additionally, there should not be any other effective method.
The prohibition of purchasing sexual services has many alleged interests. Among these, common respectability and the protection of socially vulnerable can be challenged. An equal society, sexual integrity and autonomy along with the interest of preventing organized crime are sufficiently argued for but can be challenged due to the requirement of damage. However, the contextualized view gives the reasoning regarding interest and damage more substance. The prohibition has, however, not resulted in enough prosecutions or fewer purchases of sexual services. It has only had a normative effect. To use the most intervening means at a state’s disposal to change the common view of a specific phenomenon has to be regarded as unacceptable. Hence, the prohibition of purchasing sexual service cannot be seen as justified.}},
author = {{Danielsson, Elin}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Kriminaliseringen av prostitution - rätt eller orätt? - En kriminaliseringsteoretisk analys av köp av sexuella tjänster}},
year = {{2017}},
}