Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

”Jag trodde att hon var vaken” - En studie av domstolars bedömning av uppsåt och grov oaktsamhet i våldtäktsmål då målsäganden sovit

Johannesson, Anna LU (2020) LAGF03 20202
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Denna uppsats behandlar domar från Sveriges hovrätter gällande våldtäktsmål då målsäganden sovit då den sexuella handlingen utfördes. I fokus står hovrätternas bedömning av huruvida gärningsmannen agerat uppsåtligen, alternativt grovt oaktsamt. Enbart domar efter 2018 års lagändring beaktas. I skrivande stund finns enbart ett avgörande från Högsta domstolen som meddelats efter 2018 och berör bedömningen av uppsåt och grov oaktsamhet i ett våldtäktsmål. På grund av dess prejudicerande värde för samtliga bedömningar av detta slag, bedöms avgörandet vara relevant trots att målsäganden i det aktuella fallet var vaken. Det ses även till om hovrätternas bedömningar i ovan nämnda fall har förändrats efter Högsta domstolens avgörande.

... (More)
Denna uppsats behandlar domar från Sveriges hovrätter gällande våldtäktsmål då målsäganden sovit då den sexuella handlingen utfördes. I fokus står hovrätternas bedömning av huruvida gärningsmannen agerat uppsåtligen, alternativt grovt oaktsamt. Enbart domar efter 2018 års lagändring beaktas. I skrivande stund finns enbart ett avgörande från Högsta domstolen som meddelats efter 2018 och berör bedömningen av uppsåt och grov oaktsamhet i ett våldtäktsmål. På grund av dess prejudicerande värde för samtliga bedömningar av detta slag, bedöms avgörandet vara relevant trots att målsäganden i det aktuella fallet var vaken. Det ses även till om hovrätternas bedömningar i ovan nämnda fall har förändrats efter Högsta domstolens avgörande.

Uppsatsens analys är baserad på ovan nämnda rättsfall samt juridisk litteratur om de aktuella bedömningsfrågorna. Uppsatsen undersöker inledningsvis om tillämpningen framstår som förenlig med lagtexten och därtill hörande förarbeten. Därefter ses även till om rättstillämpningen framstår som enhetlig och lika fall har bedömts lika. De nu aktuella domarna utgår från samma ram och strider inte mot lagtexten eller förarbetenas uttalanden. Däremot görs så pass olika bedömningar i de enskilda fallen att samma förutsättningar synes leda till olika domslut. Detta syns både vad gäller samma mål i olika instanser och vad gäller två mål med liknande händelseförlopp. Högsta domstolens avgörande verkar hittills inte ha föranlett någon skillnad vad gäller detta och det finns ett behov av fler vägledande avgöranden.

Uppsatsen behandlar även det genom 2018 års lagändring införda brottet oaktsam våldtäkt. Situationer då enbart medveten oaktsamhet kan bevisas och ej likgiltighetsuppsåt framstår som så pass vanliga att denna bestämmelse hittills framstår som en betydelsefull sådan som påverkar vilka utgången i flertalet domar. (Less)
Abstract
In 2018, Sweden got a new penal code regarding rape, that is based on consent. Prior to this a certain amount of force or threat was required, but now it is simply illegal to conduct a sexual intercourse or any other sexual actions included by this section, with a person that does not participate willingly. This thesis investigates judgements from the Courts of Appeal, in which it has been proven that the defendant has conducted sexual actions that this law is applicable to and the victim has been asleep and thus cannot have participated willingly. As for the Supreme Court, only one relevant judgement exists that is based on the 2018 penal code. This judgement is regarded as precedent and therefore it will also be examined whether the... (More)
In 2018, Sweden got a new penal code regarding rape, that is based on consent. Prior to this a certain amount of force or threat was required, but now it is simply illegal to conduct a sexual intercourse or any other sexual actions included by this section, with a person that does not participate willingly. This thesis investigates judgements from the Courts of Appeal, in which it has been proven that the defendant has conducted sexual actions that this law is applicable to and the victim has been asleep and thus cannot have participated willingly. As for the Supreme Court, only one relevant judgement exists that is based on the 2018 penal code. This judgement is regarded as precedent and therefore it will also be examined whether the reasoning and assessments in the Courts of Appeal has changed because of this precedent.

Apart from the penal code and relevant judgements, guidance can also be found in literature. Based on this material, it will be investigated if the judgements are compatible with the penal code and its legislative history and what has been expressed by the legislator as to its purposes. It will also be investigated whether the judgements and its assessments are unitary and if equal cases are treated equally.

The judgements all follow the directions of the penalty code and what has been expressed by the legislator. However, remarkably different assessments are made in different cases as to what conclusions can be drawn from the facts of the case. This can be noticed both internally within the same case in different court instances as well as between different, but similar cases. The precedent from the Supreme Court does not seem to have made any difference as to these concerned cases, and more precedent is much needed.

With the changes of the penal code in 2018 a new crime was introduced, which directly translates to “negligent rape”. Normally intent is required but with this new section, rape can also be punishable by gross negligence. As for the cases that have been investigated in this thesis, it is not uncommon that it cannot be proved that the defendant knew that the victim was sleeping and therefore the defendant cannot have acted with intent. However, if the defendant suspected that the victim might be asleep but was not certain of it, this constitutes gross negligence in most cases. Therefore, this new crime is most likely to be crucial for the outcome in many cases. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johannesson, Anna LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20202
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Straffrätt, sexualbrott, våldtäkt, oaktsam våldtäkt, uppsåt, likgiltighet, oaktsamhet
language
Swedish
id
9034253
date added to LUP
2021-02-09 11:47:06
date last changed
2021-02-09 11:47:06
@misc{9034253,
  abstract     = {{In 2018, Sweden got a new penal code regarding rape, that is based on consent. Prior to this a certain amount of force or threat was required, but now it is simply illegal to conduct a sexual intercourse or any other sexual actions included by this section, with a person that does not participate willingly. This thesis investigates judgements from the Courts of Appeal, in which it has been proven that the defendant has conducted sexual actions that this law is applicable to and the victim has been asleep and thus cannot have participated willingly. As for the Supreme Court, only one relevant judgement exists that is based on the 2018 penal code. This judgement is regarded as precedent and therefore it will also be examined whether the reasoning and assessments in the Courts of Appeal has changed because of this precedent.

Apart from the penal code and relevant judgements, guidance can also be found in literature. Based on this material, it will be investigated if the judgements are compatible with the penal code and its legislative history and what has been expressed by the legislator as to its purposes. It will also be investigated whether the judgements and its assessments are unitary and if equal cases are treated equally. 

The judgements all follow the directions of the penalty code and what has been expressed by the legislator. However, remarkably different assessments are made in different cases as to what conclusions can be drawn from the facts of the case. This can be noticed both internally within the same case in different court instances as well as between different, but similar cases. The precedent from the Supreme Court does not seem to have made any difference as to these concerned cases, and more precedent is much needed.

With the changes of the penal code in 2018 a new crime was introduced, which directly translates to “negligent rape”. Normally intent is required but with this new section, rape can also be punishable by gross negligence. As for the cases that have been investigated in this thesis, it is not uncommon that it cannot be proved that the defendant knew that the victim was sleeping and therefore the defendant cannot have acted with intent. However, if the defendant suspected that the victim might be asleep but was not certain of it, this constitutes gross negligence in most cases. Therefore, this new crime is most likely to be crucial for the outcome in many cases.}},
  author       = {{Johannesson, Anna}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”Jag trodde att hon var vaken” - En studie av domstolars bedömning av uppsåt och grov oaktsamhet i våldtäktsmål då målsäganden sovit}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}