Sårbarhet och autonomi – en straffrättslig undersökning av domar om sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning
(2022) JURM02 20221Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Within Swedish criminal law, the individual is traditionally understood as autonomous, free and rational. However, according to American Professor Martha Albertson Fineman, the individual should be seen as fundamentally vulnerable.
A legal area within the Swedish criminal law where questions about vulnerability and autonomy come to a head is sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. This legal area was earlier regulated as sexual exploitation of a person in a dependent state but is today covered by the regulations of rape and sexual abuse in the first and second section in the sixth chapter of the Swedish Criminal Code. In essence, it means that a person can never be considered to be voluntarily participating in sexual acts if... (More) - Within Swedish criminal law, the individual is traditionally understood as autonomous, free and rational. However, according to American Professor Martha Albertson Fineman, the individual should be seen as fundamentally vulnerable.
A legal area within the Swedish criminal law where questions about vulnerability and autonomy come to a head is sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. This legal area was earlier regulated as sexual exploitation of a person in a dependent state but is today covered by the regulations of rape and sexual abuse in the first and second section in the sixth chapter of the Swedish Criminal Code. In essence, it means that a person can never be considered to be voluntarily participating in sexual acts if the perpetrator induces the person to participate by seriously abusing the person´s position of dependence on the perpetrator.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine vulnerability and autonomy in relation to the Swedish criminal law through a study of court judgements about sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. The plaintiff is in the centre of this study. The study entails a legal dogmatic description of the legal area and a textual analysis of lower court judgements.
In the analysis, Fineman’s theory of the vulnerable subject is used as an analysis tool. My findings show that the courts attach varied importance to different circumstances in their judgements of sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. The defendant is consistently positioned as autonomous in the responsibility assessments while the plaintiff, in some cases, is positioned as vulnerable and, in other cases, as autonomous or vulnerable and autonomous.
In the final discussion, I discuss the result of the analysis and state responsibility for vulnerability. I conclude that the courts' positionings of the plaintiff as vulnerable or autonomous determine the significance certain circumstances are given and the impact of the regulations of sexual exploitation of a position of dependence in practice. Finally, I come to the conclusion that an unconsidered positioning of the plaintiff as autonomous risks to negatively impact the legal protection. Furthermore, it risks contributing to an institutionalization of the vulnerability in the Swedish criminal proceedings. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Inom den svenska straffrätten uppfattas traditionellt individen som autonom, fri och rationell. Enligt den amerikanska professorn Martha Albertson Fineman bör däremot individen i grunden betraktas som sårbar.
Ett område inom svensk straffrätt där frågor om sårbarhet och autonomi ställs på sin spets är sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning. Området var tidigare reglerat som sexuellt utnyttjande av person i beroendeställning men omfattas i dag av bestämmelserna om våldtäkt och sexuellt övergrepp i 6 kap. 1–2 §§ brottsbalken. I korthet handlar det om att en person aldrig kan anses delta frivilligt i sexuella handlingar om gärningsmannen förmår personen att delta genom att allvarligt missbruka att personen står i en beroendeställning... (More) - Inom den svenska straffrätten uppfattas traditionellt individen som autonom, fri och rationell. Enligt den amerikanska professorn Martha Albertson Fineman bör däremot individen i grunden betraktas som sårbar.
Ett område inom svensk straffrätt där frågor om sårbarhet och autonomi ställs på sin spets är sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning. Området var tidigare reglerat som sexuellt utnyttjande av person i beroendeställning men omfattas i dag av bestämmelserna om våldtäkt och sexuellt övergrepp i 6 kap. 1–2 §§ brottsbalken. I korthet handlar det om att en person aldrig kan anses delta frivilligt i sexuella handlingar om gärningsmannen förmår personen att delta genom att allvarligt missbruka att personen står i en beroendeställning till gärningsmannen.
Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka sårbarhet och autonomi i förhållande till den svenska straffrätten med hjälp av en studie av domar om sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning. I centrum för undersökningen står rättsskyddssubjektet. Uppsatsen består av dels en rättsdogmatisk undersökning av gällande rätt, dels en rättsvetenskaplig textanalys av underrättspraxis.
I analysen använder jag Fineman’s sårbarhetsteori som analysverktyg. Jag finner att domstolar tillmäter en rad olika omständigheter varierande betydelse vid ansvarsbedömningen av sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning. Den tilltalade positioneras genomgående som autonom medan målsäganden i vissa fall positioneras som sårbar, i andra fall som autonom eller både sårbar och autonom.
I en avslutande diskussion diskuterar jag resultatet i analysen och statligt ansvarstagande för sårbarhet. Jag kommer fram till att domstolarnas positioneringar av målsäganden som sårbar eller autonom avgör vilken betydelse vissa omständigheter tillmäts och vilket genomslag bestämmelserna om sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning får i praktiken. Avslutningsvis kommer jag till slutsatsen att en oreflekterad utgångspunkt i autonomi vad gäller positioneringen av målsäganden riskerar att inverka negativt på det rättsliga skyddet. Det riskerar också att bidra till en institutionalisering av sårbarheten i den svenska straffrättsprocessen. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9079866
- author
- Tamm, Jessica LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Vulnerability and autonomy – a study of court judgements about sexual exploitation of a position of dependence within Swedish criminal law
- course
- JURM02 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, Sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning, Sexuellt utnyttjande av person i beroendeställning, Sårbarhetsteori
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9079866
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-09 12:37:41
- date last changed
- 2022-06-09 12:37:41
@misc{9079866,
abstract = {{Within Swedish criminal law, the individual is traditionally understood as autonomous, free and rational. However, according to American Professor Martha Albertson Fineman, the individual should be seen as fundamentally vulnerable.
A legal area within the Swedish criminal law where questions about vulnerability and autonomy come to a head is sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. This legal area was earlier regulated as sexual exploitation of a person in a dependent state but is today covered by the regulations of rape and sexual abuse in the first and second section in the sixth chapter of the Swedish Criminal Code. In essence, it means that a person can never be considered to be voluntarily participating in sexual acts if the perpetrator induces the person to participate by seriously abusing the person´s position of dependence on the perpetrator.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine vulnerability and autonomy in relation to the Swedish criminal law through a study of court judgements about sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. The plaintiff is in the centre of this study. The study entails a legal dogmatic description of the legal area and a textual analysis of lower court judgements.
In the analysis, Fineman’s theory of the vulnerable subject is used as an analysis tool. My findings show that the courts attach varied importance to different circumstances in their judgements of sexual exploitation of a position of dependence. The defendant is consistently positioned as autonomous in the responsibility assessments while the plaintiff, in some cases, is positioned as vulnerable and, in other cases, as autonomous or vulnerable and autonomous.
In the final discussion, I discuss the result of the analysis and state responsibility for vulnerability. I conclude that the courts' positionings of the plaintiff as vulnerable or autonomous determine the significance certain circumstances are given and the impact of the regulations of sexual exploitation of a position of dependence in practice. Finally, I come to the conclusion that an unconsidered positioning of the plaintiff as autonomous risks to negatively impact the legal protection. Furthermore, it risks contributing to an institutionalization of the vulnerability in the Swedish criminal proceedings.}},
author = {{Tamm, Jessica}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Sårbarhet och autonomi – en straffrättslig undersökning av domar om sexuellt utnyttjande av beroendeställning}},
year = {{2022}},
}