Barnen är vår (straffrätts) framtid - En analys av rättsinstitutet bevistalans karaktär och ansvarsbegreppet i förhållande till barn under 15 år inom straffrätten
(2026) JURM02 20261Faculty of Law
Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Den kriminalpolitiska debatten har under de senaste åren till stor del handlat om de unga lagöverträdarna. Barn under 15 år utnyttjas av den organiserade brottsligheten till att begå grova brott till följd av deras särbehandling inom straffrätten. Dessa barn har ännu inte uppnått straffbarhetsåldern men kan likväl begå brott i juridisk mening enligt svensk rätt.
Sedan år 1964 har det funnits en möjlighet att utreda barnets ansvar för brott i domstol genom en s.k. bevistalan. Bevistaleinstitutet infördes i svensk rätt med hänvisning till rättssäkerhet för barn som blev anklagade för att ha begått brott. Bevistalan syftade då till att skapa ett bättre beslutsunderlag för dåtidens barnavårdsorgan. I ett socialrättsligt syfte gjordes således... (More) - Den kriminalpolitiska debatten har under de senaste åren till stor del handlat om de unga lagöverträdarna. Barn under 15 år utnyttjas av den organiserade brottsligheten till att begå grova brott till följd av deras särbehandling inom straffrätten. Dessa barn har ännu inte uppnått straffbarhetsåldern men kan likväl begå brott i juridisk mening enligt svensk rätt.
Sedan år 1964 har det funnits en möjlighet att utreda barnets ansvar för brott i domstol genom en s.k. bevistalan. Bevistaleinstitutet infördes i svensk rätt med hänvisning till rättssäkerhet för barn som blev anklagade för att ha begått brott. Bevistalan syftade då till att skapa ett bättre beslutsunderlag för dåtidens barnavårdsorgan. I ett socialrättsligt syfte gjordes således ett undantag avseende en straffrättslig hantering av barn under straffbarhetsåldern. Institutet tillämpades högst restriktivt och före 2023 hade endast fem mål om bevistalan prövats.
En lagändring skedde i juli 2023 i avsikt att bevistalan skulle föras i fler fall. Åklagaren gavs då en självständig initiativrätt till bevistalan och ålades skyldighet enligt en presumtionsregel att väcka talan för brott med straffminimum om fem år. Lagstiftaren framhöll att det tillkommit syften vilka avsåg upprät-telse för målsäganden samt samhällets intresse av att utreda och lagföra brott. Lagändringen fick avsedd effekt och mellan år 2024 och år 2025 fördes en bevistalan mot 126 barn.
Uppsatsen syftar till att, i ett utvecklingsperspektiv, undersöka bevistaleinstitutets karaktär och hur ansvarsbegreppet i förhållande till barn under 15 år förändras inom straffrätten genom institutet. Med hjälp av en kombination av den rättsanalytiska metoden och den empiriska metoden studeras institutet och en kvantitativ studie av praxis från bevistalans införande i svensk rätt 1964 till den 2 april 2026 bedrivs.
Med hjälp av den engelska terminologin för ansvar diskuteras ansvarsbegreppet i förhållande till barn under 15 år och det synliggörs hur ansvarsbegreppet inom bevistalan skiftar från responsible till accountable. Det argumenteras för hur en sådan skiftning leder till att barn under 15 år genom bevistaleinstitutet anses ha en sådan ansvarsförmåga som krävs för straffansvar.
Uppsatsen finner även att bevistalans karaktär har skiftat från att vara ett huvudsakligen barnavårdande institut till att idag allt mer likna ett ordinärt straffrättsligt institut. Detta till följd av hur barnen inom bevistaleinstitutet ställs till svars för sina handlingar på samma sätt som vuxna inom den ordinära straffrätten. Dels genom att talan förs i ett för barnet motstående intresse, dels genom den uppsåtsbedömningen i vilken barnen i majoriteten av fallen prövas likt en vuxen standardindivid. (Less) - Abstract
- The debate on criminal policy has in recent years largely been about young offenders. Children under the age of 15 are exploited by organised crime in order to commit serious crimes as a result of childrens special treatment in criminal law. These children have not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility but can still commit crimes in the legal sense according to Swedish law.
Since 1964, there has been an opportunity to try childrens responsibility for a crime in criminal court by a so-called evidentiary hearing. The institute of evidentiary hearing was introduced into Swedish law in order to provide legal certainty for children who were accused of having committed a crime. The evidentiary hearing aimed to provide an improved... (More) - The debate on criminal policy has in recent years largely been about young offenders. Children under the age of 15 are exploited by organised crime in order to commit serious crimes as a result of childrens special treatment in criminal law. These children have not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility but can still commit crimes in the legal sense according to Swedish law.
Since 1964, there has been an opportunity to try childrens responsibility for a crime in criminal court by a so-called evidentiary hearing. The institute of evidentiary hearing was introduced into Swedish law in order to provide legal certainty for children who were accused of having committed a crime. The evidentiary hearing aimed to provide an improved decisionmaking basis for the child welfare agencies. An exception regarding children under 15 in criminal law were thus made in a social law purpose. The institute was used very restrictively and by 2023 only five cases of evidentiary hearing had been tried.
In July 2023 an amendment were made regarding the evidentiary hearing in order to increase its usage. The prosecutor was given an independent right to initiate a hearing and was also given an obligation to do so according to a rule of presumtion to initiate a hearing of crimes with a minimum sentence of five years. The legislator emphasized that additional purposes concerned rectificat-ion for victims and the society´s interest in investigating and prosecuting cri-mes. The amendment had intended effect and between the years of 2024 and 2025 an evidentiary hearing was conducted against 126 children.
This essay aims to, from a developmental perspective, examine the nature of the evidentiary hearing institute and how the concept of responsibility changes in relation to children under 15 within it. By using a combination of the legal analytical method and the empirical method, the institute is studied by a quantitativ study which examines the institute from the time of its introduction to Swedish law until 2 April 2026.
By using the English terminology for responsibility, the concept of responsibility is discussed in relation to children under 15 years and it is made visible how the concept of responsibility changes from respnsible to accountable. It is argued that such change leads to children under 15 being considered to have the same capacity for responsibility which is required for criminal liability.
The essay also finds that the nature of the evidantiary hearing has shifted from a primarily child-caring institute to a nature which increasingly resembles the ordinary criminal justice system. This is due to the change of the childrens responsibility and thus its correspondense with the responsibility of an adult within the ordinary criminal justice system. This happens as a result of the additional purposes by which the child can be held accountable in purposes opposite of its own and by the manner in which the childs criminal intent is tried to a large extent as of an adult. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9227394
- author
- Johansson, Nilla Ruth Elisabeth LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The children are the future (of criminal law) - An analysis of the nature of the evidentiary hearing and the concept of responsibility in relation to children under 15 in criminal law
- course
- JURM02 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- straffrätt, criminal law, rättsvetenskapen, law, ansvar, straffansvar, ansvarsbegreppet, responsible, accountable, liable, bevistalan, bevistaleinstitutet, skuldprövning, evidentiary, hearing, barn, children
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9227394
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-05 09:58:41
- date last changed
- 2026-06-05 09:58:41
@misc{9227394,
abstract = {{The debate on criminal policy has in recent years largely been about young offenders. Children under the age of 15 are exploited by organised crime in order to commit serious crimes as a result of childrens special treatment in criminal law. These children have not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility but can still commit crimes in the legal sense according to Swedish law.
Since 1964, there has been an opportunity to try childrens responsibility for a crime in criminal court by a so-called evidentiary hearing. The institute of evidentiary hearing was introduced into Swedish law in order to provide legal certainty for children who were accused of having committed a crime. The evidentiary hearing aimed to provide an improved decisionmaking basis for the child welfare agencies. An exception regarding children under 15 in criminal law were thus made in a social law purpose. The institute was used very restrictively and by 2023 only five cases of evidentiary hearing had been tried.
In July 2023 an amendment were made regarding the evidentiary hearing in order to increase its usage. The prosecutor was given an independent right to initiate a hearing and was also given an obligation to do so according to a rule of presumtion to initiate a hearing of crimes with a minimum sentence of five years. The legislator emphasized that additional purposes concerned rectificat-ion for victims and the society´s interest in investigating and prosecuting cri-mes. The amendment had intended effect and between the years of 2024 and 2025 an evidentiary hearing was conducted against 126 children.
This essay aims to, from a developmental perspective, examine the nature of the evidentiary hearing institute and how the concept of responsibility changes in relation to children under 15 within it. By using a combination of the legal analytical method and the empirical method, the institute is studied by a quantitativ study which examines the institute from the time of its introduction to Swedish law until 2 April 2026.
By using the English terminology for responsibility, the concept of responsibility is discussed in relation to children under 15 years and it is made visible how the concept of responsibility changes from respnsible to accountable. It is argued that such change leads to children under 15 being considered to have the same capacity for responsibility which is required for criminal liability.
The essay also finds that the nature of the evidantiary hearing has shifted from a primarily child-caring institute to a nature which increasingly resembles the ordinary criminal justice system. This is due to the change of the childrens responsibility and thus its correspondense with the responsibility of an adult within the ordinary criminal justice system. This happens as a result of the additional purposes by which the child can be held accountable in purposes opposite of its own and by the manner in which the childs criminal intent is tried to a large extent as of an adult.}},
author = {{Johansson, Nilla Ruth Elisabeth}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Barnen är vår (straffrätts) framtid - En analys av rättsinstitutet bevistalans karaktär och ansvarsbegreppet i förhållande till barn under 15 år inom straffrätten}},
year = {{2026}},
}