Barnfridsbrott - En undersökning av det straffrättsliga skyddet för barn i våldsamma miljöer och de rättsvårdande myndigheternas hantering av brottet
(2022) JURM02 20221Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Barns bevittnande av brott mellan närstående är ett problem som flera gånger diskuterats inom svensk straffrätt. De bevittnande barnen riskerar att påverkas psykiskt och fysiskt på kort såväl som på lång sikt och en kriminalisering av att utsätta barn för ett sådant bevittnande har berörts av lagstiftarna vid flera tillfällen. Lagstiftaren har tidigare inte ansett att en kriminalisering har varit påkallad utan har i stället infört andra straffrättsliga skydd för de bevittnande barnen.
År 2018 aktualiserades frågan om kriminalisering igen och efter en utredning röstade riksdagen igenom ett lagförslag som skulle kriminalisera barns bevittnande av brott mellan närstående år 2021. Det nya barnfridsbrottet finns i 4 kap. 3 § BrB och medför... (More) - Barns bevittnande av brott mellan närstående är ett problem som flera gånger diskuterats inom svensk straffrätt. De bevittnande barnen riskerar att påverkas psykiskt och fysiskt på kort såväl som på lång sikt och en kriminalisering av att utsätta barn för ett sådant bevittnande har berörts av lagstiftarna vid flera tillfällen. Lagstiftaren har tidigare inte ansett att en kriminalisering har varit påkallad utan har i stället infört andra straffrättsliga skydd för de bevittnande barnen.
År 2018 aktualiserades frågan om kriminalisering igen och efter en utredning röstade riksdagen igenom ett lagförslag som skulle kriminalisera barns bevittnande av brott mellan närstående år 2021. Det nya barnfridsbrottet finns i 4 kap. 3 § BrB och medför straffansvar för en person som utsätter ett närstående barn för att bevittna ett av flera uppräknade brott mot en annan närstående till barnet. Barnfridsbrottet trädde i kraft den 1 juli 2021 och har prövats av domstol många gånger sedan dess.
I samband med kriminaliseringen aktualiseras frågan hur det straffrättsliga skyddet för barn i våldsamma miljöer förändrats genom införandet av barnfridsbrottet samt huruvida det råder rättslikhet vid den juridiska hanteringen av brottet eller ej. Resultatet av denna utredning visar att det straffrättsliga skyddet har stärkts för de flesta barn som lever i våldsamma miljöer. Ett undantag är de barn som bevittnat brott men endast varit närstående till antingen gärningspersonen eller brottsoffret. Dessa barn hade tidigare rätt att ansöka om brottsskadeersättning men omfattas inte av den nya bestämmelsen och blir, då rätten till brottsskadeersättning har tagits bort, skyddslösa genom införandet av barnfridsbrottet. Undersökningen visar också vissa skillnader i hur barnfridsbrottet hanteras av rättsvårdande myndigheter. Skillnaderna berör frågor om konkurrens, skadeståndsstorlek och vem som är att anse som barnets närstående. (Less) - Abstract
- Children witnessing crimes between family members is a problem that has been discussed multiple times in Swedish criminal law. These children can be affected psychologically and physically in both the short and long term, and lawmakers have touched upon criminalizing the exposure of children to this type of behavior several times. Lawmakers previously did not consider criminalization necessary and instead introduced other protections within the scope of criminal law for the affected children.
The question of criminalization was brought up again in 2018, and after an investigation the Swedish parliament voted in favor of a bill that would criminalize allowing children to witness crime between family members in 2021. The new crime,... (More) - Children witnessing crimes between family members is a problem that has been discussed multiple times in Swedish criminal law. These children can be affected psychologically and physically in both the short and long term, and lawmakers have touched upon criminalizing the exposure of children to this type of behavior several times. Lawmakers previously did not consider criminalization necessary and instead introduced other protections within the scope of criminal law for the affected children.
The question of criminalization was brought up again in 2018, and after an investigation the Swedish parliament voted in favor of a bill that would criminalize allowing children to witness crime between family members in 2021. The new crime, violation of a child’s integrity, can be found in Chapter 4. Section 3. of the Swedish Criminal Code, and makes family members criminally liable if they cause a child to witness one of the enumerated crimes against another family member of the child. The new law came into effect on July 1, 2021, and has been tried by Swedish courts many times since.
The criminalization raises questions about how the protection of children in violent environments has changed within the scope of criminal law since the law came into effect and whether there is equal treatment of similar cases. This investigation shows that the protection within the scope of criminal law has gotten stronger for most children in violent environments. One exception is the children who have witnessed crimes and only been related to either the offender or the victim. These children previously had a right to apply for criminal injuries compensation, but they are not covered by the new law and therefore are unprotected as their right to criminal injuries compensation has been removed. The investigation also highlights differences in how the new crime is treated by the criminal justice system. These differences refer to questions about competition, the size of damages awarded, and who should be considered a family member. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9080417
- author
- Bengtsson, Lovisa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Violation of a child's integrity - An investigation of the protection of children in violent environments within the scope of criminal law and treatment of the crime by the criminal justice system
- course
- JURM02 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, Barnfridsbrott
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9080417
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-08 10:29:24
- date last changed
- 2022-06-08 10:29:24
@misc{9080417,
abstract = {{Children witnessing crimes between family members is a problem that has been discussed multiple times in Swedish criminal law. These children can be affected psychologically and physically in both the short and long term, and lawmakers have touched upon criminalizing the exposure of children to this type of behavior several times. Lawmakers previously did not consider criminalization necessary and instead introduced other protections within the scope of criminal law for the affected children.
The question of criminalization was brought up again in 2018, and after an investigation the Swedish parliament voted in favor of a bill that would criminalize allowing children to witness crime between family members in 2021. The new crime, violation of a child’s integrity, can be found in Chapter 4. Section 3. of the Swedish Criminal Code, and makes family members criminally liable if they cause a child to witness one of the enumerated crimes against another family member of the child. The new law came into effect on July 1, 2021, and has been tried by Swedish courts many times since.
The criminalization raises questions about how the protection of children in violent environments has changed within the scope of criminal law since the law came into effect and whether there is equal treatment of similar cases. This investigation shows that the protection within the scope of criminal law has gotten stronger for most children in violent environments. One exception is the children who have witnessed crimes and only been related to either the offender or the victim. These children previously had a right to apply for criminal injuries compensation, but they are not covered by the new law and therefore are unprotected as their right to criminal injuries compensation has been removed. The investigation also highlights differences in how the new crime is treated by the criminal justice system. These differences refer to questions about competition, the size of damages awarded, and who should be considered a family member.}},
author = {{Bengtsson, Lovisa}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Barnfridsbrott - En undersökning av det straffrättsliga skyddet för barn i våldsamma miljöer och de rättsvårdande myndigheternas hantering av brottet}},
year = {{2022}},
}