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Det var inte mitt fel, eller? En undersökning av det straffrättsliga ansvaret för tilltalade, med tidigare känd sexsomni, som utfört sexuella handlingar mot andra i sömnen

Bengtsson, Lovisa LU (2021) LAGF03 20212
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
In the past few years Swedish courts have been faced with a new objection in cases concerning rape. The objection is that of sexsomnia which means that the defendant committed the sexual act in their sleep and therefore lacked criminal intent for their actions. When the prosecution in these cases have not been able to offer evidence to disprove the objection, the courts have had to present a non-guilty verdict. In multiple cases, a previous history of somnambulism or sexsomnia have been seen as a corroboration of the defendant’s objection, that the sexual acts, in the case being tried, were committed during an episode of sexsomnia.

The purpose of this thesis has been to examine whether it would be possible to hold a defendant liable for... (More)
In the past few years Swedish courts have been faced with a new objection in cases concerning rape. The objection is that of sexsomnia which means that the defendant committed the sexual act in their sleep and therefore lacked criminal intent for their actions. When the prosecution in these cases have not been able to offer evidence to disprove the objection, the courts have had to present a non-guilty verdict. In multiple cases, a previous history of somnambulism or sexsomnia have been seen as a corroboration of the defendant’s objection, that the sexual acts, in the case being tried, were committed during an episode of sexsomnia.

The purpose of this thesis has been to examine whether it would be possible to hold a defendant liable for sexual acts committed during an episode of sexsomnia, not just in spite of, but because of a previous knowledge that the defendant suffers from sexsomnia. The subject has been analyzed in relation to the crimes rape and negligent rape in this thesis. The results of the investigation points toward a potential possibility to hold a defendant liable for rape with the use of a, so-called, previous coverage with intent.

However, it does not seem possible to convict a defendant of negligent rape with the use of previous coverage with negligence, as the negligence only adheres to whether the other person was a willing participant or not. A person who is sleeping, which is almost exclusively the case in sexsomnia cases, can never willingly participate in a sexual act according to Swedish law. Therefore, the sexual act itself still must have been committed with intent to hold a defendant liable for negligent rape. Had the law been changed so that it was possible to hold a person, who, through negligence, committed a sexual act towards a non-willing participant, liable, it would most likely be possible to convict a defendant with previously known sexsomnia of negligent rape. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
De senaste åren har svenska domstolar ställts inför en ny invändning i våldtäktsmål. Invändningen gäller sexsomni vilket innebär att den tilltalade begått den sexuella handlingen i sömnen och att uppsåt för handlingen således har saknats. När åklagaren i dessa fall inte lyckats motbevisa invändningen har domstolen tvingats fria den tilltalande från ansvar. En tidigare historia av somnambulism eller sexsomni har i flera fall ansetts styrka den tilltalades invändning om att det, i det aktuella fallet, varit fråga om sexuella handlingar begångna under en episod av sexsomni.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka om det hade varit möjligt att hålla den tilltalade ansvarig för sexuella handlingar begångna under en sexsomni-episod,... (More)
De senaste åren har svenska domstolar ställts inför en ny invändning i våldtäktsmål. Invändningen gäller sexsomni vilket innebär att den tilltalade begått den sexuella handlingen i sömnen och att uppsåt för handlingen således har saknats. När åklagaren i dessa fall inte lyckats motbevisa invändningen har domstolen tvingats fria den tilltalande från ansvar. En tidigare historia av somnambulism eller sexsomni har i flera fall ansetts styrka den tilltalades invändning om att det, i det aktuella fallet, varit fråga om sexuella handlingar begångna under en episod av sexsomni.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka om det hade varit möjligt att hålla den tilltalade ansvarig för sexuella handlingar begångna under en sexsomni-episod, inte bara till trots av, utan på grund av, en tidigare kännedom om att den tilltalade lider av sexsomni. Frågan har i detta arbete utretts i förhållande till brotten våldtäkt och oaktsam våldtäkt. Resultatet av utredningen pekar mot att det potentiellt skulle vara möjligt att döma en tilltalad till ansvar för våldtäkt med hjälp av en så kallad föregående täckning med uppsåt.

Det förefaller däremot inte sannolikt att det skulle vara möjligt att döma en tilltalad till ansvar för oaktsam våldtäkt med hjälp av föregående täckning med oaktsamhet, detta då oaktsamhetsrekvisitet endast förhåller sig till omständigheten huruvida den andra personen medverkade frivilligt eller ej. Då en person som sover, vilket i princip uteslutande är fallet i sexsomni-fallen, enligt svensk rätt aldrig kan anses delta frivilligt, krävs det fortfarande att själva gärningen begåtts med uppsåt. Hade lagen däremot ändrats så att det vore möjligt att döma en person som, av oaktsamhet, utfört en sexuell handling mot någon som inte deltagit frivilligt, hade det antagligen varit möjligt att döma en tilltalad med tidigare känd sexsomni till ansvar för oaktsam våldtäkt. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bengtsson, Lovisa LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20212
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Straffrätt, Processrätt, Sexsomni
language
Swedish
id
9070072
date added to LUP
2022-02-15 11:30:35
date last changed
2022-02-15 11:30:35
@misc{9070072,
  abstract     = {{In the past few years Swedish courts have been faced with a new objection in cases concerning rape. The objection is that of sexsomnia which means that the defendant committed the sexual act in their sleep and therefore lacked criminal intent for their actions. When the prosecution in these cases have not been able to offer evidence to disprove the objection, the courts have had to present a non-guilty verdict. In multiple cases, a previous history of somnambulism or sexsomnia have been seen as a corroboration of the defendant’s objection, that the sexual acts, in the case being tried, were committed during an episode of sexsomnia.

The purpose of this thesis has been to examine whether it would be possible to hold a defendant liable for sexual acts committed during an episode of sexsomnia, not just in spite of, but because of a previous knowledge that the defendant suffers from sexsomnia. The subject has been analyzed in relation to the crimes rape and negligent rape in this thesis. The results of the investigation points toward a potential possibility to hold a defendant liable for rape with the use of a, so-called, previous coverage with intent.

However, it does not seem possible to convict a defendant of negligent rape with the use of previous coverage with negligence, as the negligence only adheres to whether the other person was a willing participant or not. A person who is sleeping, which is almost exclusively the case in sexsomnia cases, can never willingly participate in a sexual act according to Swedish law. Therefore, the sexual act itself still must have been committed with intent to hold a defendant liable for negligent rape. Had the law been changed so that it was possible to hold a person, who, through negligence, committed a sexual act towards a non-willing participant, liable, it would most likely be possible to convict a defendant with previously known sexsomnia of negligent rape.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Lovisa}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Det var inte mitt fel, eller? En undersökning av det straffrättsliga ansvaret för tilltalade, med tidigare känd sexsomni, som utfört sexuella handlingar mot andra i sömnen}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}