Synen på kvinnliga förövare i gängkriminalitet - En diskursanalys av lagstiftarens syn på kvinnor i gängkriminalitet och domstolens syn på kvinnor som begår grova våldsbrott
(2022) JURM02 20222Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Gängkriminaliteten i Sverige är idag ett omdiskuterat ämne. Trots detta finns det en sida av myntet som förbises och lämnas i det dolda, nämligen de våldsbejakande kvinnorna. Historiskt sett har kvinnor som kommer i kontakt med rättsväsendet setts som offer till mäns våld, och så även i dagens samhälle. Det talas om ”den rosa lagboken” och att kvinnor särbehandlas av rättsväsendets aktörer i strid mot likhetsprincipen med anledning av den stereotypa bilden av vem som är lagöverträdare.
Uppsatsen ämnar uppmärksamma hur rättsväsendets aktörer producerar föreställningar om kvinnan utifrån ett genusperspektiv. I huvudsak tillämpas en diskursanalytisk metod utifrån fem lagförslag inom regeringens 34-punktsprogram mot gängkriminalitet, för... (More) - Gängkriminaliteten i Sverige är idag ett omdiskuterat ämne. Trots detta finns det en sida av myntet som förbises och lämnas i det dolda, nämligen de våldsbejakande kvinnorna. Historiskt sett har kvinnor som kommer i kontakt med rättsväsendet setts som offer till mäns våld, och så även i dagens samhälle. Det talas om ”den rosa lagboken” och att kvinnor särbehandlas av rättsväsendets aktörer i strid mot likhetsprincipen med anledning av den stereotypa bilden av vem som är lagöverträdare.
Uppsatsen ämnar uppmärksamma hur rättsväsendets aktörer producerar föreställningar om kvinnan utifrån ett genusperspektiv. I huvudsak tillämpas en diskursanalytisk metod utifrån fem lagförslag inom regeringens 34-punktsprogram mot gängkriminalitet, för att undersöka synen på kvinnor i gängkriminella kontexter. Därtill utreds konstruktion av kvinnor som begått våldsbrott i 14 rättsfall, utifrån identifiering av mönster i påföljdsbedöm-ningen. Till hjälp för analysen presenteras teoretiska förklaringsmodeller som utarbetats i genusforskningen i syfte att uppmärksamma mönster för särbehandlingen av kvinnor i rättsväsendet. Syftet med att utreda synen på kvinnorna i dessa texter är att bilda en förståelse för hur juridiken genom den rättsliga hanteringen av kvinnor skildrar den sociala verkligheten, samt problematisera hur rättsliga diskurser i sin tur producerar föreställningen om gängkriminalitetens aktörer och associationen mellan kön och våldsbrott i straffrätten.
Resultatet av diskursanalysen i uppsatsen talar för att lagstiftaren förbiser kvinnor i gängkriminaliteten med hänvisning till statistik och framhävning av kvinnor som offer för mäns våld. Genom diskursanalysen av våldsbrotts-domarna identifierades två diskurser gällande synen på kvinnan. Å ena sidan förekom en syn på kvinnor som begår våldsbrott med anledning av relat-ionsbaserade motiv som instabila med svag sinnesnärvaro, vilket medför en positiv särbehandling genom mildare påföljder eftersom dessa motiv asso-cieras till kvinnliga egenskaper. Å andra sidan förekom en syn på kvinnor som begår våldsbrott med ekonomiskt eller drogrelaterat motiv som med-vetna med hög sinnesnärvaro, vilket visat sig föranleda en i jämförelse strängare påföljdsbedömningen eftersom dessa motiv inte kan associeras till kvinnliga egenskaper. Påföljdsbedömningen i den senare diskursen har visat sig vara mer objektiv, vilket kan medföra en förutsättning för upprätthållan-det av likhetsprincipen. Däremot finns det även tendenser hos domstolen att i påföljdsbedömningen av kvinnans gärning beakta förmildrande omstän-digheter i högre utsträckning än vad lagen medger, vilket är problematiskt ur en rättssäkerhetssynpunkt och för bekämpningen av gängkriminaliteten. (Less) - Abstract
- Gang crime in Sweden is a debated topic today. Despite this, there is one side of the coin that is overlooked and left in the dark, namely the women who condone violence. Historically, women who come into contact with the justice system have been seen as victims of men’s violence, and so also in today’s society. There is talk of “the pink law book” and women being treated differently by actors in the justice system in violation of the principle of equality due to the stereotypical image of who is a lawbreaker.
The essay aims to draw attention to how actors in the legal system produce gender stereotypes about women from a gender perspective. Essentially, a discourse analytical method is applied based on five legislative proposals within... (More) - Gang crime in Sweden is a debated topic today. Despite this, there is one side of the coin that is overlooked and left in the dark, namely the women who condone violence. Historically, women who come into contact with the justice system have been seen as victims of men’s violence, and so also in today’s society. There is talk of “the pink law book” and women being treated differently by actors in the justice system in violation of the principle of equality due to the stereotypical image of who is a lawbreaker.
The essay aims to draw attention to how actors in the legal system produce gender stereotypes about women from a gender perspective. Essentially, a discourse analytical method is applied based on five legislative proposals within the government’s 34-point program against gang crime, to examine the view of women in gang criminal contexts. In addition, the construction of women who committed violent crimes in 14 legal cases is investigated, based on the identification of patterns in the penalty assessment. To aid the analysis, theoretical explanatory models developed in gender research are presented with the aim of drawing attention to patterns for the differential treatment of women in the justice system. The purpose of investigating the view of women in these texts is to form an understanding of how the law, through the legal treatment of women, depicts social reality, as well as to problematize how legal discourses in turn produce the notion of the actors of gang crime and the association between gender and violent crime in criminal law.
The result of the discourse analysis in the essay suggests that the legislature overlooks women in gang crime with reference to statistics and emphasizing women as victims of men’s violence. Through the discourse analysis of the violent crime convictions, two discourses regarding the view of women were identified. On the one hand, there was a view of women who commit violent crimes due to relationship-based motives as unstable with weak presence of mind, which entails a positive differential treatment through milder penalties because these motives are associated with female characteristics. On the other hand, there was a view of women who commit violent crimes with economic or drug-related motives as conscious with a high presence of mind, which has been shown to lead to a comparatively stricter penalty as-sessment because these motives cannot be associated with female character-istics. The penalty assessment in the latter discourse has proven to be more objective, which may entail a prerequisite for the maintenance of the principle of equality. However, there are also tendencies of the court to consider extenuating circumstances in the penalty assessment of the wom-an’s act to a greater extent than the law allows, which is problematic from a legal certainty point of view and for the fight against gang crime. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9104843
- author
- Madsen, Alexandra LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The view of female offenders in gang crime - A discourse analysis of the legislature's view of women in gang crime and the court's view of women who commit serious violent crimes
- course
- JURM02 20222
- year
- 2022
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, criminal law, gängkriminalitet, den rosa lagboken, diskursanalys, kvinnliga förövare
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9104843
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-24 09:06:05
- date last changed
- 2023-01-24 09:06:05
@misc{9104843,
abstract = {{Gang crime in Sweden is a debated topic today. Despite this, there is one side of the coin that is overlooked and left in the dark, namely the women who condone violence. Historically, women who come into contact with the justice system have been seen as victims of men’s violence, and so also in today’s society. There is talk of “the pink law book” and women being treated differently by actors in the justice system in violation of the principle of equality due to the stereotypical image of who is a lawbreaker.
The essay aims to draw attention to how actors in the legal system produce gender stereotypes about women from a gender perspective. Essentially, a discourse analytical method is applied based on five legislative proposals within the government’s 34-point program against gang crime, to examine the view of women in gang criminal contexts. In addition, the construction of women who committed violent crimes in 14 legal cases is investigated, based on the identification of patterns in the penalty assessment. To aid the analysis, theoretical explanatory models developed in gender research are presented with the aim of drawing attention to patterns for the differential treatment of women in the justice system. The purpose of investigating the view of women in these texts is to form an understanding of how the law, through the legal treatment of women, depicts social reality, as well as to problematize how legal discourses in turn produce the notion of the actors of gang crime and the association between gender and violent crime in criminal law.
The result of the discourse analysis in the essay suggests that the legislature overlooks women in gang crime with reference to statistics and emphasizing women as victims of men’s violence. Through the discourse analysis of the violent crime convictions, two discourses regarding the view of women were identified. On the one hand, there was a view of women who commit violent crimes due to relationship-based motives as unstable with weak presence of mind, which entails a positive differential treatment through milder penalties because these motives are associated with female characteristics. On the other hand, there was a view of women who commit violent crimes with economic or drug-related motives as conscious with a high presence of mind, which has been shown to lead to a comparatively stricter penalty as-sessment because these motives cannot be associated with female character-istics. The penalty assessment in the latter discourse has proven to be more objective, which may entail a prerequisite for the maintenance of the principle of equality. However, there are also tendencies of the court to consider extenuating circumstances in the penalty assessment of the wom-an’s act to a greater extent than the law allows, which is problematic from a legal certainty point of view and for the fight against gang crime.}},
author = {{Madsen, Alexandra}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Synen på kvinnliga förövare i gängkriminalitet - En diskursanalys av lagstiftarens syn på kvinnor i gängkriminalitet och domstolens syn på kvinnor som begår grova våldsbrott}},
year = {{2022}},
}