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Skulden och samhällsskyddet – En undersökning av förhållandet mellan skuld och samhällsskydd med fokus på ungdomsbrottsligheten

Lindberg, Hjalmar LU (2025) LAGF03 20251
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Samhällsskydd är ett hett ämne inom kriminalpolitiken. Under de senaste åren
har ett flertal utredningar lagts fram som motiverar sina förslag med att hänvisa till just detta intresse. Förslagen rör bland annat straffbarhetsåldern.

Samtidigt har Sverige en påföljdslära som i grunden bygger på förtjänst, inte
samhällsskydd. Straff ska i första hand dömas ut efter handlingens klandervärdhet, inte vilken fara personen utgör. En alternativ ordning går att finna i den amerikanske filosofen Gregg Carusos karantän-modell (The Public Health-Quarantine Model), som av flera olika skäl förkastar skuldprincipen till
förmån för ett system där all inkapacitering helt avgörs av individens fara.

Mot bakgrund av den pågående debatten är... (More)
Samhällsskydd är ett hett ämne inom kriminalpolitiken. Under de senaste åren
har ett flertal utredningar lagts fram som motiverar sina förslag med att hänvisa till just detta intresse. Förslagen rör bland annat straffbarhetsåldern.

Samtidigt har Sverige en påföljdslära som i grunden bygger på förtjänst, inte
samhällsskydd. Straff ska i första hand dömas ut efter handlingens klandervärdhet, inte vilken fara personen utgör. En alternativ ordning går att finna i den amerikanske filosofen Gregg Carusos karantän-modell (The Public Health-Quarantine Model), som av flera olika skäl förkastar skuldprincipen till
förmån för ett system där all inkapacitering helt avgörs av individens fara.

Mot bakgrund av den pågående debatten är uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka
frågan huruvida den förtjänstbaserade straffrätten står i vägen för ett ändamålsenligt samhällsskydd eller inte. Vore det i så fall bättre att införa ett mindre skuldcentrerat system? I ljuset av ett ”skuldkritiskt” perspektiv i form av Carusos modell görs en undersökning av förslaget att sänka straffbarhetsåldern samt ett par andra relevanta förslag.

Undersökningen visar att det finns vissa motsättningar mellan ett förtjänstbaserat system och samhällsskydd. I ett system där de verkligt inkapaciterande åtgärderna endast kan utdömas som straff efter uppvisad skuld blir det svårt att komma åt ungdomsbrottslingar, eftersom dessa antas sakna möjlighet att ådagalägga skuld. När inkapaciterande straff väl döms ut betyder inte det att de är anpassade för samhällsskyddet.

Tillämpningen av karantänsmodellen visar sig svår på grund av dess abstraktionsnivå, men det konstateras att en teori som Carusos kan, om inte införas rakt av, åtminstone bidra med intressanta perspektiv inför utformandet av en framtida, mer samhällsskyddsinriktad straffrätt. (Less)
Abstract
Public safety is a hot topic within the Swedish criminal policy debate. Recently, several official governement reports have been published that argue
for their proposals by appealing to this interest. Among these is a proposal to
lower the age of criminal responsibility.

Meanwhile, Sweden has a penalty system based on desert, not public safety.
Punishment is to be decided based on the level of guilt, not on the danger
posed by the individual to public safety. An alternative to this approach would
be the Public Health-Quarantine Model, proposed by the American philosopher Gregg Caruso. This model abandons desert-based criminal justice in
favor of a system in which all incapacitation is purely based on danger.

The purpose... (More)
Public safety is a hot topic within the Swedish criminal policy debate. Recently, several official governement reports have been published that argue
for their proposals by appealing to this interest. Among these is a proposal to
lower the age of criminal responsibility.

Meanwhile, Sweden has a penalty system based on desert, not public safety.
Punishment is to be decided based on the level of guilt, not on the danger
posed by the individual to public safety. An alternative to this approach would
be the Public Health-Quarantine Model, proposed by the American philosopher Gregg Caruso. This model abandons desert-based criminal justice in
favor of a system in which all incapacitation is purely based on danger.

The purpose of this paper, is to investigate whether the desert-based criminal
justice system stands in the way of public safety. If so, would it be better to
adopt a less desert-centered system? In the light of Caruso’s model, an investigation is done of the proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility, as well as a couple other relevant proposals.

The investigation shows that there are some conflicts between a desert-based
criminal justice system and the interest of public safety. In a system where
the truly incapacitating measures presuppose guilt having been shown, difficulties arise as to how juvenile criminals should be addressed, since they are presumed to lack criminal responsibility. Even when incapacitating punishments are imposed, the coherence with the idea of public safety is far
from certain.

The application of Caruso’s models proves difficult because of its level of
abstraction. However, it can be concluded that such a theory can provide in
teresting perspectives regarding the construction of a new criminal justice system with a greater focus on public safety. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lindberg, Hjalmar LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Straffrätt, samhällsskydd, straffbarhetsålder, Caruso
language
Swedish
id
9190965
date added to LUP
2025-06-23 13:09:16
date last changed
2025-06-23 13:09:16
@misc{9190965,
  abstract     = {{Public safety is a hot topic within the Swedish criminal policy debate. Recently, several official governement reports have been published that argue 
for their proposals by appealing to this interest. Among these is a proposal to 
lower the age of criminal responsibility.
 
Meanwhile, Sweden has a penalty system based on desert, not public safety. 
Punishment is to be decided based on the level of guilt, not on the danger 
posed by the individual to public safety. An alternative to this approach would 
be the Public Health-Quarantine Model, proposed by the American philosopher Gregg Caruso. This model abandons desert-based criminal justice in 
favor of a system in which all incapacitation is purely based on danger.
 
The purpose of this paper, is to investigate whether the desert-based criminal 
justice system stands in the way of public safety. If so, would it be better to 
adopt a less desert-centered system? In the light of Caruso’s model, an investigation is done of the proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility, as well as a couple other relevant proposals.
 
The investigation shows that there are some conflicts between a desert-based 
criminal justice system and the interest of public safety. In a system where 
the truly incapacitating measures presuppose guilt having been shown, difficulties arise as to how juvenile criminals should be addressed, since they are presumed to lack criminal responsibility. Even when incapacitating punishments are imposed, the coherence with the idea of public safety is far 
from certain.
 
The application of Caruso’s models proves difficult because of its level of 
abstraction. However, it can be concluded that such a theory can provide in
teresting perspectives regarding the construction of a new criminal justice system with a greater focus on public safety.}},
  author       = {{Lindberg, Hjalmar}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Skulden och samhällsskyddet – En undersökning av förhållandet mellan skuld och samhällsskydd med fokus på ungdomsbrottsligheten}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}