Tvång eller brist på samtycke? En komparativ studie av svensk och engelsk våldtäktslagstiftning
(2013) LAGF03 20132Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Ett omdebatterat ämne inom svensk rätt är på vilket sätt de så kallade utnyttjandefallen, då gärningsmannen utnyttjat att en person befunnit sig i en särskilt utsatt situation (tidigare hjälplöst tillstånd), regleras i svensk rätt. Frågan huruvida den svenska, tvångsbaserade våldtäktslagstiftningen ger ett heltäckande skydd i dessa situationer, eller om en samtyckesreglering bör införas har diskuterats. Sett till praxis kan det konstateras att många utnyttjandesituationer har fallit mellan stolarna då domstolen har tolkat begreppet hjälplöst tillstånd väldigt snävt. Av förarbeten och praxis framgår att utnyttjandesituationerna har inneburit problem under en längre tid, och att lagstiftaren på olika sätt har försökt angripa dessa problem.... (More)
- Ett omdebatterat ämne inom svensk rätt är på vilket sätt de så kallade utnyttjandefallen, då gärningsmannen utnyttjat att en person befunnit sig i en särskilt utsatt situation (tidigare hjälplöst tillstånd), regleras i svensk rätt. Frågan huruvida den svenska, tvångsbaserade våldtäktslagstiftningen ger ett heltäckande skydd i dessa situationer, eller om en samtyckesreglering bör införas har diskuterats. Sett till praxis kan det konstateras att många utnyttjandesituationer har fallit mellan stolarna då domstolen har tolkat begreppet hjälplöst tillstånd väldigt snävt. Av förarbeten och praxis framgår att utnyttjandesituationerna har inneburit problem under en längre tid, och att lagstiftaren på olika sätt har försökt angripa dessa problem. Dock har lagstiftaren ändå funnit att argumenten för en samtyckesreglering inte har övervägt nackdelarna. Den engelska rätten har en våldtäktslagstiftning som baseras på bristande samtycke. Trots det har även England stött på problem då det rör sig om fall där offret har befunnit sig i ett berusat tillstånd. Den generella regeln om samtycke har varit svårtillämpad och medfört inkonsekvens i praxis. Både Sverige och England har samma problem, trots olika våldtäktslagstiftningar. Dessa problem består inte i att en lagstiftning baseras på tvång eller samtycke, utan i tillämpningen av lagen och snäva tolkningar av bestämmelserna. I slutändan blir det i vilket fall en fråga om bevisning, antingen genom att visa att ett samtycke har varit ogiltigt, eller att ett offer har befunnit sig i ett hjälplöst tillstånd/en särskilt utsatt situation. Det blir upp till åklagaren att bevisa att offret har befunnit sig i ett så pass berusat tillstånd att rättsfaktumet ogiltigt samtycke eller hjälplöst tillstånd/särskilt utsatt situation föreligger. Fokus kommer oavsett reglering att hamna på offret, och frågor som utreder hur berusad vederbörande var och hur denne betedde sig innan händelsen kommer att ställas. Det är svårt att bedöma om en samtyckesreglering skulle medföra samma effekter i svensk rätt som i engelsk på grund av att det rör sig om två skilda rättssystem. Utifrån en komparation med engelsk rätt kan det dock konstateras att ett införande av en samtyckesreglering inte hade medfört ett heltäckande skydd i de situationer då offret befunnit sig i ett berusat tillstånd. (Less)
- Abstract
- A heavily disputed area of Swedish law is how legislation shall regulate the situation where a sexual offender has taken advantage of a victim’s especially vulnerable position (earlier helpless condition). The question concerning the Swedish rape legislation is today of a force-based kind and it has been argued whether such legislation can offer a complete protection in such situations or whether it should be replaced with the use of consent. According to case law, many of the situations where a perpetrator has taken advantage of a victim’s vulnerability seem to have been neglected as the Swedish Courts have interpreted the concept of a helpless condition too narrow. The preporatory work for the Swedish rape provision show that these... (More)
- A heavily disputed area of Swedish law is how legislation shall regulate the situation where a sexual offender has taken advantage of a victim’s especially vulnerable position (earlier helpless condition). The question concerning the Swedish rape legislation is today of a force-based kind and it has been argued whether such legislation can offer a complete protection in such situations or whether it should be replaced with the use of consent. According to case law, many of the situations where a perpetrator has taken advantage of a victim’s vulnerability seem to have been neglected as the Swedish Courts have interpreted the concept of a helpless condition too narrow. The preporatory work for the Swedish rape provision show that these situations have caused problems during a long period of time and the legislator has tried to tackle the problems arising from the provision. Investigating the possibilites of implementing a consent-based approach, the legislator found that the arguments in favour of such an approach did not outweigh the negative effects. Unlike Swedish law, the English rape legislation is based on a lack of consent. Regardless, English Courts have faced similar problems as the Swedish Courts when dealing with cases where the victim had been intoxicated. The general rule of consent has been found difficult to apply in practise, and it has also resulted in an inconsistent case law. Even though Swedish and English rape legislations differ, both countries have experienced similar problems. Such problems neither constitute a force-based regulation, nor do they constitute a consent-based regulation. Instead the problems are found in the application of the provision and in the narrow interpretations made by the Courts. In the end, it all boils down to one fact, which is the issue of sufficient evidence. In any case, it lies upon the prosecutor to present evidence, which show that the victim has been sufficiently intoxicated in order for a consent to be invalid or that a the victim has been found to be in a especially vulnerable situation. Regardless the type of regulation, focus will still be on the victim and questions which aim at investigating the level of intoxication and the victim’s actions before the alleged rape will be asked. It is difficult to evaluate if a consent-based regulation would entail the same effects in Swedish law as it does in English law, since the two countries have two distinct legal systems. From a comparative English perspective, it can in any case be established that an implementation of a consent-based regulation would not entail a complete protection in cases where the victim has been in a intoxicated condition. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4229007
- author
- Fazlinovic, Lejla LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20132
- year
- 2013
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, Våldtäktslagstiftning, Samtyckesreglering
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 4229007
- date added to LUP
- 2014-01-28 17:38:20
- date last changed
- 2014-05-16 13:45:59
@misc{4229007,
abstract = {{A heavily disputed area of Swedish law is how legislation shall regulate the situation where a sexual offender has taken advantage of a victim’s especially vulnerable position (earlier helpless condition). The question concerning the Swedish rape legislation is today of a force-based kind and it has been argued whether such legislation can offer a complete protection in such situations or whether it should be replaced with the use of consent. According to case law, many of the situations where a perpetrator has taken advantage of a victim’s vulnerability seem to have been neglected as the Swedish Courts have interpreted the concept of a helpless condition too narrow. The preporatory work for the Swedish rape provision show that these situations have caused problems during a long period of time and the legislator has tried to tackle the problems arising from the provision. Investigating the possibilites of implementing a consent-based approach, the legislator found that the arguments in favour of such an approach did not outweigh the negative effects. Unlike Swedish law, the English rape legislation is based on a lack of consent. Regardless, English Courts have faced similar problems as the Swedish Courts when dealing with cases where the victim had been intoxicated. The general rule of consent has been found difficult to apply in practise, and it has also resulted in an inconsistent case law. Even though Swedish and English rape legislations differ, both countries have experienced similar problems. Such problems neither constitute a force-based regulation, nor do they constitute a consent-based regulation. Instead the problems are found in the application of the provision and in the narrow interpretations made by the Courts. In the end, it all boils down to one fact, which is the issue of sufficient evidence. In any case, it lies upon the prosecutor to present evidence, which show that the victim has been sufficiently intoxicated in order for a consent to be invalid or that a the victim has been found to be in a especially vulnerable situation. Regardless the type of regulation, focus will still be on the victim and questions which aim at investigating the level of intoxication and the victim’s actions before the alleged rape will be asked. It is difficult to evaluate if a consent-based regulation would entail the same effects in Swedish law as it does in English law, since the two countries have two distinct legal systems. From a comparative English perspective, it can in any case be established that an implementation of a consent-based regulation would not entail a complete protection in cases where the victim has been in a intoxicated condition.}},
author = {{Fazlinovic, Lejla}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Tvång eller brist på samtycke? En komparativ studie av svensk och engelsk våldtäktslagstiftning}},
year = {{2013}},
}