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Fri och villig? - En diskursanalys av frivillighetsrekvisitet i våldtäktsbestämmelsen ur ett genusrättsligt perspektiv

Rälg, Beatrice LU (2019) JURM02 20191
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Den 1 juli 2018 trädde en ny lag om våldtäktsbrottet i kraft baserad på frivillighet. Överväganden kring ett införande av en samtyckesbaserad lagstiftning har pågått och omdebatterats under lång tid och två gånger tidigare har frågan utretts i 1998 års sexualbrottskommitté och 2008 års sexualbrottsutredning. Efter lagändringen 2018 är det tillräckligt med avsaknad av frivillighet vid deltagande i ett sexuellt umgänge för att det ska vara fråga om en våldtäkt.

Propositionen till bestämmelsen lämnade flera luckor öppna för rättstillämpningen. Den mest väsentliga var det nya gränsdragande rekvisitet frivillighet. Sedan frivillighetsrekvisitet utgör grund för våldtäktsbestämmelsen är det upp till domstolen att tolka vad som utgör ett... (More)
Den 1 juli 2018 trädde en ny lag om våldtäktsbrottet i kraft baserad på frivillighet. Överväganden kring ett införande av en samtyckesbaserad lagstiftning har pågått och omdebatterats under lång tid och två gånger tidigare har frågan utretts i 1998 års sexualbrottskommitté och 2008 års sexualbrottsutredning. Efter lagändringen 2018 är det tillräckligt med avsaknad av frivillighet vid deltagande i ett sexuellt umgänge för att det ska vara fråga om en våldtäkt.

Propositionen till bestämmelsen lämnade flera luckor öppna för rättstillämpningen. Den mest väsentliga var det nya gränsdragande rekvisitet frivillighet. Sedan frivillighetsrekvisitet utgör grund för våldtäktsbestämmelsen är det upp till domstolen att tolka vad som utgör ett frivilligt deltagande i rättslig mening. Syftet med uppsatsen är att utröna hur domstolen tillämpar bestämmelsen och vilken innebörd domstolen ger frivillighetsrekvisitet.

Uppsatsens övergripande ramverk är den socialkonstruktionistiska ansatsen om att vår kunskap om världen är situerad i sociala, kulturella, historiska och politiska sammanhang, vilket ger utgångspunkten att lagstiftning är att betrakta som en social konstruktion. Det genusrättsvetenskapliga perspektivet bidrar vidare med en kritisk granskning utifrån aspekter som kön och makt och med användning av en diskursanalytisk metodologi analyseras rättsfall sedan ändringen. Uppsatsen ämnar, utifrån ett samhällskonstruktionistiskt synsätt, rama in hur domstolen tillämpar det gränsdragande rekvisitet frivillighet samt vad det får för effekt för skyddet av den sexuella självbestämmanderätten som frivillighetsrekvisitet enligt propositionen återspeglar.

Det är fortfarande tidigt att utröna något mönster i domarna och en frivillighetspraxis kommer troligtvis ta tid att fastställa, inte minst med anledning av att de uteslutande ofrivillighetsbaserade fallen kommer att ha svårare att ta sig till domstol. Analysen leder emellertid, baserad på förarbeten och de studerade domarna till att det fortfarande är många situationer som inte fångas upp av lagens ändrade lydelse. Det avgörande för om ett deltagande har skett frivilligt är om offret har haft en möjlighet att fritt ta ställning. Mot bakgrund av straffrättsliga ideologier ska en sådan möjlighet alltid betraktas neutralt och objektivt utifrån en fri individ. Våldtäktsbrottets karaktär kräver emellertid att gärningar bedöms i sin kontext och utifrån ett helhetsperspektiv. Påstådda övergrepp kan inte dömas isolerat för att ett heltäckande skydd ska tillgodoses även för utsatta grupper som inte besitter samma förutsättningar och möjligheter att uttrycka frivillighet. Förutom en kontextualiserad rättstillämpning krävs ytterligare åtgärder däribland utbildning inom rättsväsendet och en medvetenhet kring reproduktion av diskriminerande normer. (Less)
Abstract
The 1st of July 2018, a new legislation regarding rape came into force, based on consent and voluntary participation. Considerations regarding a consent-based legislation has been ongoing and disputed, not least during the last century and twice before the question has been investigated in the 1998 sex crime committee and the 2008 sex crime investigation. Since the change it is no longer required for the perpetrator to use violence or threats during the criminal act in order to be convicted for rape. Instead the line between a punishable and a non-punishable act is drawn according to whether the participation was voluntary.

The provisions of the legislation left several gaps open for the courts to fill, the most relevant concerns the... (More)
The 1st of July 2018, a new legislation regarding rape came into force, based on consent and voluntary participation. Considerations regarding a consent-based legislation has been ongoing and disputed, not least during the last century and twice before the question has been investigated in the 1998 sex crime committee and the 2008 sex crime investigation. Since the change it is no longer required for the perpetrator to use violence or threats during the criminal act in order to be convicted for rape. Instead the line between a punishable and a non-punishable act is drawn according to whether the participation was voluntary.

The provisions of the legislation left several gaps open for the courts to fill, the most relevant concerns the necessary condition for crime, voluntariness. Since voluntary participation forms the basis for the rape provision, it is up to the courts to interpret what actually constitutes a voluntary participation. The purpose of the essay is to determine how the court applies the provision to cases and what meaning they give voluntariness. Further it investigates if the legislation strengthens individuals’ rights to sexual self-determination.

The overall framework of the essay is based on the constructivist approach that our knowledge of the world is located in social, cultural, historical and political context, which follows that laws are considered as social constructions. A gender perspective is applied, contributing to a critical examination based on aspects of gender, power and sexuality. Using a discourse analytical methodology, legal judgments after the legislation are analyzed. The general aim is to outline the premises that underlies the judgment when using the necessary prerequisite voluntariness. With the court’s judgements as material, assumptions and underlying premises are investigated to illustrate and understand the legal definition of voluntariness.

It is still early to determine any pattern in the judgments and a voluntary practice will probably take time to establish, not least because the exclusively involuntary cases have more difficult in getting to court. The analysis leads however, based on the preliminary works of the legislation and the cases studied, to the conclusion that several circumstances are not captured by the legislation, partly because of how Swedish criminal law understands all individuals as free, gender neutral with capability to make decisions. Voluntary participation is dependent if the victim has had a free opportunity to take a stand on a participation. The conclusion is that the character of the crime rape, which are committed due to structural reasons, requires to be judged with an awareness of these structures and can not be considered as an isolated event. In order to provide protection for vulnerable groups who do not possess the same conditions and opportunities to express voluntariness, not only formally but by using their self-determination, it requires the court to recognize and take these patterns into account within the legal application. In addition to a contextualized legal application, other measures are required, including education in the judicial system and an awareness of maintaining and creating discriminatory gender norms. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rälg, Beatrice LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
By free will ? - A discourse analysis of consent as a necessary condition in the rape legislation from a gender perspective
course
JURM02 20191
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Straffrätt, genusrättsperspektiv, diskursanalys, socialkonstruktionism, våldtäkt, genus, frivillighetsrekvisit, frivillighet
language
Swedish
id
8977603
date added to LUP
2019-06-18 13:48:08
date last changed
2019-06-18 13:48:08
@misc{8977603,
  abstract     = {{The 1st of July 2018, a new legislation regarding rape came into force, based on consent and voluntary participation. Considerations regarding a consent-based legislation has been ongoing and disputed, not least during the last century and twice before the question has been investigated in the 1998 sex crime committee and the 2008 sex crime investigation. Since the change it is no longer required for the perpetrator to use violence or threats during the criminal act in order to be convicted for rape. Instead the line between a punishable and a non-punishable act is drawn according to whether the participation was voluntary. 

The provisions of the legislation left several gaps open for the courts to fill, the most relevant concerns the necessary condition for crime, voluntariness. Since voluntary participation forms the basis for the rape provision, it is up to the courts to interpret what actually constitutes a voluntary participation. The purpose of the essay is to determine how the court applies the provision to cases and what meaning they give voluntariness. Further it investigates if the legislation strengthens individuals’ rights to sexual self-determination.

The overall framework of the essay is based on the constructivist approach that our knowledge of the world is located in social, cultural, historical and political context, which follows that laws are considered as social constructions. A gender perspective is applied, contributing to a critical examination based on aspects of gender, power and sexuality. Using a discourse analytical methodology, legal judgments after the legislation are analyzed. The general aim is to outline the premises that underlies the judgment when using the necessary prerequisite voluntariness. With the court’s judgements as material, assumptions and underlying premises are investigated to illustrate and understand the legal definition of voluntariness. 

It is still early to determine any pattern in the judgments and a voluntary practice will probably take time to establish, not least because the exclusively involuntary cases have more difficult in getting to court. The analysis leads however, based on the preliminary works of the legislation and the cases studied, to the conclusion that several circumstances are not captured by the legislation, partly because of how Swedish criminal law understands all individuals as free, gender neutral with capability to make decisions. Voluntary participation is dependent if the victim has had a free opportunity to take a stand on a participation. The conclusion is that the character of the crime rape, which are committed due to structural reasons, requires to be judged with an awareness of these structures and can not be considered as an isolated event. In order to provide protection for vulnerable groups who do not possess the same conditions and opportunities to express voluntariness, not only formally but by using their self-determination, it requires the court to recognize and take these patterns into account within the legal application. In addition to a contextualized legal application, other measures are required, including education in the judicial system and an awareness of maintaining and creating discriminatory gender norms.}},
  author       = {{Rälg, Beatrice}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Fri och villig? - En diskursanalys av frivillighetsrekvisitet i våldtäktsbestämmelsen ur ett genusrättsligt perspektiv}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}