Barnfridsbrottet - ett illusoriskt skydd eller ett kraftfullt verktyg?
(2022) LAGF03 20221Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Barnfridsbrottet i 4 § 3 kap. BrB är ett relativt nytt brott i svensk lagstiftning då det trädde i kraft 1 juli 2021. Lagstiftarens avsikt med bestämmelsen var att uppmärksamma barn som lever i miljöer där våld och andra brottsliga gärningar förekommer och låta deras röster höras genom hela den rättsliga processen. Forskning visar att barn som upplever våld mellan närstående är särskilt skadligt för barnet och de riskerar att drabbas av allvarliga psykiska konsekvenser, både kortsiktiga och långsiktiga. Lagförslaget var välkomnat och de flesta remissinstanser var positiva till införandet av barnfridsbrottet. Det fanns dock vissa som menade att brottets konstruktion skulle kunna innebära en viss problematik vid den praktiska tillämpningen,... (More)
- Barnfridsbrottet i 4 § 3 kap. BrB är ett relativt nytt brott i svensk lagstiftning då det trädde i kraft 1 juli 2021. Lagstiftarens avsikt med bestämmelsen var att uppmärksamma barn som lever i miljöer där våld och andra brottsliga gärningar förekommer och låta deras röster höras genom hela den rättsliga processen. Forskning visar att barn som upplever våld mellan närstående är särskilt skadligt för barnet och de riskerar att drabbas av allvarliga psykiska konsekvenser, både kortsiktiga och långsiktiga. Lagförslaget var välkomnat och de flesta remissinstanser var positiva till införandet av barnfridsbrottet. Det fanns dock vissa som menade att brottets konstruktion skulle kunna innebära en viss problematik vid den praktiska tillämpningen, särskilt vad gäller rekvisitet ”bevittna”. Det fanns en oro att begreppsvalet var alldeles för snävt utformat och att vissa barn därför skulle falla utanför straffbestämmelsen.
Lagstiftaren valde trots kritiken att använda sig av begreppet bevittna vilket innebär att barnet måste se eller höra den brottsliga gärningen för att straffansvar ska aktualiseras. Syftet med uppsatsen är därför att utreda huruvida rekvisitet ”bevittna” utgör ett hinder för bestämmelsens genomslag i praktiken och möjligheten för barn som bevittnat våld att få sin röst hörd. I uppsatsen har det gjorts en rättsfallsstudie för att undersöka hur domstolarna har valt att tolka begreppet bevittna samt om barn ges möjligheten att komma till tals. Av rättsfallsstudien framgår att domstolarna tolkar begreppet olika vilket innebär att det inte blir en enhetlig rättstillämpning och att vissa barn faller mellan stolarna. Barnförhör får stor betydelse för att fastställa vad barn kan ha upplevt men det sätter även press på barnet när det kommer till att denne måste berätta om sina upplevelser på det sätt som bestämmelsen kräver. Det är tydligt att begreppet bevittna utgör ett hinder för att avge en fällande dom och att det kraftfulla verktyg bestämmelsen var tänkt att bli verkar ha fått begränsad effekt. (Less) - Abstract
- The criminalization of letting children witness violence or other crimes in Section 4, Chapter 3 in the Swedish Criminal Code is a relatively new offence as it came into force on 1 July 2021. The legislator's intention with this provision was to draw attention to children living in environments where violence and other criminal acts occur. Research shows that children who experience domestic violence are particularly vulnerable to serious psychological consequences, both short-term and long-term. The legislative proposal was welcomed and most of the consultation instances were in favor of the introduction of criminalization. However, there were some who felt that the construction of the offence could pose some problems in practice,... (More)
- The criminalization of letting children witness violence or other crimes in Section 4, Chapter 3 in the Swedish Criminal Code is a relatively new offence as it came into force on 1 July 2021. The legislator's intention with this provision was to draw attention to children living in environments where violence and other criminal acts occur. Research shows that children who experience domestic violence are particularly vulnerable to serious psychological consequences, both short-term and long-term. The legislative proposal was welcomed and most of the consultation instances were in favor of the introduction of criminalization. However, there were some who felt that the construction of the offence could pose some problems in practice, particularly regarding the witnessing element. There was concern that the concept was too narrow and that some children would therefore be excluded from the legal provision.
Despite this criticism, the legislator chose to use the concept of witnessing, which means that the child must see or hear the criminal act in order for criminal liability to arise. The aim of the essay is therefore to investigate whether the criterion of witnessing constitutes an obstacle to the practical implementation of the legal provision and the possibility for children who have witnessed violence to have their voices to be heard. The essay is based on a case study to investigate how courts have chosen to interpret the concept of witness and whether children are given the opportunity to be heard. The case study shows that the courts interpret the concept differently, which means that there is no uniform application of the law and that some of the children’s rights are not considered. Hearing children are important to establish what they may have experienced, but hearings can also put pressure on the child to talk about their experiences as the legislation requires this. The concept of witnessing is an obstacle to obtain a conviction and that the powerful tool the legislation was intended to be seems to have limited effect. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9080865
- author
- Lundeén Lindberg, Julia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, barnfridsbrott, brott mellan närstående, barn, bevittna, uppleva.
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9080865
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-28 10:51:18
- date last changed
- 2022-06-28 10:51:18
@misc{9080865,
abstract = {{The criminalization of letting children witness violence or other crimes in Section 4, Chapter 3 in the Swedish Criminal Code is a relatively new offence as it came into force on 1 July 2021. The legislator's intention with this provision was to draw attention to children living in environments where violence and other criminal acts occur. Research shows that children who experience domestic violence are particularly vulnerable to serious psychological consequences, both short-term and long-term. The legislative proposal was welcomed and most of the consultation instances were in favor of the introduction of criminalization. However, there were some who felt that the construction of the offence could pose some problems in practice, particularly regarding the witnessing element. There was concern that the concept was too narrow and that some children would therefore be excluded from the legal provision.
Despite this criticism, the legislator chose to use the concept of witnessing, which means that the child must see or hear the criminal act in order for criminal liability to arise. The aim of the essay is therefore to investigate whether the criterion of witnessing constitutes an obstacle to the practical implementation of the legal provision and the possibility for children who have witnessed violence to have their voices to be heard. The essay is based on a case study to investigate how courts have chosen to interpret the concept of witness and whether children are given the opportunity to be heard. The case study shows that the courts interpret the concept differently, which means that there is no uniform application of the law and that some of the children’s rights are not considered. Hearing children are important to establish what they may have experienced, but hearings can also put pressure on the child to talk about their experiences as the legislation requires this. The concept of witnessing is an obstacle to obtain a conviction and that the powerful tool the legislation was intended to be seems to have limited effect.}},
author = {{Lundeén Lindberg, Julia}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Barnfridsbrottet - ett illusoriskt skydd eller ett kraftfullt verktyg?}},
year = {{2022}},
}