Barn under straffbarhetsåldern i straffprocessen - En analys av bevistalans utvidgning i ljuset av barnkonventionens principer om barnets bästa i straffprocessen
(2025) JURM02 20252Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- In recent years, growing concern over increasingly younger children being suspected of serious offences has driven a criminal policy agenda and legislative reforms that gradually reduce the differences between children and adults within the Swedish criminal justice system. In 2023, the evidentiary proceedings, through which a court may determine whether a child under the age of 15 has committed a criminal act without imposing any sanction, were reformed. The original purpose of this procedure is to provide the social services with a sufficient basis for assessing the child’s need for care and support measures. Through the reform, a presumption rule was introduced, according to which prosecutors, as a general rule, shall bring evidentiary... (More)
- In recent years, growing concern over increasingly younger children being suspected of serious offences has driven a criminal policy agenda and legislative reforms that gradually reduce the differences between children and adults within the Swedish criminal justice system. In 2023, the evidentiary proceedings, through which a court may determine whether a child under the age of 15 has committed a criminal act without imposing any sanction, were reformed. The original purpose of this procedure is to provide the social services with a sufficient basis for assessing the child’s need for care and support measures. Through the reform, a presumption rule was introduced, according to which prosecutors, as a general rule, shall bring evidentiary proceedings in cases of serious crime. This has led to a substantial increase in the number of such cases. In the most recent legislative proposal, The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Straffbarhetsåldern), both a lowering of the age of criminal responsibility and a further reduction of the presumption threshold for evidentiary proceedings are proposed.
The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the reasons justifying evidentiary proceedings have changed and how this, in turn, has reshaped the functions of this legal institution in light of new criminal law and children’s rights frameworks. Using a legal-analytical method, the thesis critically examines how a further expansion of evidentiary proceedings relates to the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular the best interests of the child in Article 3 and the right to a child-adapted criminal process in Article 40. The thesis also examines the parallel proceedings that arise when children and criminally responsible persons are suspected of the same offence.
The analysis is structured around the investigative phase, the adjudicative phase, and the reaction phase, which enables a systematic comparison of how the processes converge and the child rights- and legal certainty-related tensions that result. The thesis further addresses the potential influence of evidentiary proceedings on the shift towards a lowered age of criminal responsibility, as well as the legal certainty risks such a lowering may entail for the child within the criminal process.
The thesis concludes that the proposed expansion of evidentiary proceedings, in its current form, does not fulfil the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Three deficiencies are identified: (1) the absence of a transparent and systematic child impact assessment in accordance with Article 3, (2) the lack of a clearly articulated and reasoned balancing of interests explaining why the best interests of the child should give way to other societal interests, and (3) the absence of an analysis of how the reform is intended to ensure a child-adapted criminal process in line with Article 40, and why alternative measures are not considered capable of achieving the same objectives. In addition, parallel proceedings in the investigative, adjudicative, and reaction phases create an arrangement that is difficult to reconcile with the requirements of a child-adapted criminal process, particularly where children are in practice handled in ways that increasingly resemble adult procedures without a corresponding strengthening of safeguards. At the same time, evidentiary proceedings have contributed to normalising the presence of children within the criminal process and have thereby had some influence on the shift towards a lowered age of criminal responsibility. This may cause unclear boundaries and reduced foreseeability for the child within the criminal process.
Overall, the analysis demonstrates that the Convention on the Rights of the Child can only achieve genuine effect within criminal law if a coherent and long-term holistic approach is applied, in which the best interests of the child, the child’s need for protection, and legal certainty are prioritised. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Under senare år har en växande oro över att allt yngre barn misstänks för grov brottslighet drivit fram en kriminalpolitisk agenda och lagstiftningsreformer som successivt minskar skillnaderna mellan barn och vuxna i det svenska straffsystemet. År 2023 reformerades bevistaleinstitutet, genom vilket en domstol kan pröva om ett barn under 15 år har begått en brottslig gärning utan att någon påföljd utdöms. Institutets ursprungliga syfte är att ge socialtjänsten ett tillräckligt beslutsunderlag för bedömningen av barnets behov av vård- och stödinsatser. Genom reformen infördes en presumtionsregel som innebär att åklagare som huvudregel ska väcka bevistalan vid allvarlig brottslighet. Detta har lett till en kraftig ökning av antalet... (More)
- Under senare år har en växande oro över att allt yngre barn misstänks för grov brottslighet drivit fram en kriminalpolitisk agenda och lagstiftningsreformer som successivt minskar skillnaderna mellan barn och vuxna i det svenska straffsystemet. År 2023 reformerades bevistaleinstitutet, genom vilket en domstol kan pröva om ett barn under 15 år har begått en brottslig gärning utan att någon påföljd utdöms. Institutets ursprungliga syfte är att ge socialtjänsten ett tillräckligt beslutsunderlag för bedömningen av barnets behov av vård- och stödinsatser. Genom reformen infördes en presumtionsregel som innebär att åklagare som huvudregel ska väcka bevistalan vid allvarlig brottslighet. Detta har lett till en kraftig ökning av antalet bevistalefall. I det senaste reformförslaget Straffbarhetsåldern föreslås både en sänkning av straffbarhetsåldern och en ytterligare sänkning av presumtionsgränsen för bevistalan.
Uppsatsen syftar till att analysera hur de skäl som motiverar bevistalan har förändrats och hur detta i sin tur har omformat bevistaleinstitutets funktioner i ljuset av nya straffrättsliga och barnrättsliga ramar. Genom en rättsanalytisk metod kritiskt granskas hur en ytterligare utvidgning av bevistalan förhåller sig till barnkonventionens krav på barnets bästa i artikel 3 och rätten till en barnanpassad straffprocess enligt artikel 40. Vidare granskas parallella processer som uppstår när barn och straffmyndiga personer misstänks för samma gärning.
Analysen är strukturerad kring utrednings-, prövnings- och reaktionsfasen, vilket möjliggör en systematisk jämförelse av hur processerna närmar sig varandra och vilka barnrättsliga och rättssäkerhetsmässiga spänningar detta ger upphov till. Uppsatsen behandlar även bevistalans eventuella inverkan på utvecklingen mot en sänkt straffbarhetsålder samt de rättssäkerhetsrisker som en sådan sänkning kan medföra för barnet i straffprocessen.
Slutsatsen är att den föreslagna utvidgningen av bevistaleinstitutet, i sin nuvarande utformning, inte uppfyller barnkonventionens krav. Tre brister framträder:(1) avsaknaden av en transparent och systematisk barnkonsekvensanalys enligt artikel 3, (2) bristen på en tydligt redovisad och motiverad intresseavvägning som förklarar varför barnets bästa ska stå tillbaka för andra samhällsintressen, samt (3) avsaknaden av en analys av hur reformen ska säkerställa en barnanpassad straffprocess i enlighet med artikel 40 och varför alternativ hantering inte bedöms kunna uppnå samma syften. Därutöver skapar parallella processer, i utrednings-, prövnings- och reaktionsfasen, en ordning som är svår att förena med kraven på en barnanpassad straffprocess, särskilt när barn i praktiken hanteras på sätt som närmar sig vuxnas processformer utan att skyddet förstärks i motsvarande grad. Bevistalan har samtidigt bidragit till att normalisera barns närvaro i straffprocessen och därigenom haft viss inverkan på utvecklingen mot en sänkt straffbarhetsålder. Det riskerar att leda till oklara gränsdragningar och minskad förutsebarhet för barnet i straffprocessen.
Analysen visar sammantaget att barnkonventionen endast kan få ett reellt genomslag inom straffrätten om ett samlat och långsiktigt helhetsperspektiv tilllämpas, där barnets bästa, skyddsbehov och rättssäkerhet prioriteras. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9216805
- author
- Stenberg, Sara LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Children below the age of criminal responsibility in criminal proceedings - An analysis of the expansion of evidentiary proceedings in light of the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the best interests of the child in criminal proceedings
- course
- JURM02 20252
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Straffrätt, Straffprocessrätt, Bevistalan, LUL, Barnkonventionen, The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Barnets bästa, Barnanpassad straffprocess, Rättssäkerhet, Parallella processer
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9216805
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-20 09:40:08
- date last changed
- 2026-01-20 09:40:08
@misc{9216805,
abstract = {{In recent years, growing concern over increasingly younger children being suspected of serious offences has driven a criminal policy agenda and legislative reforms that gradually reduce the differences between children and adults within the Swedish criminal justice system. In 2023, the evidentiary proceedings, through which a court may determine whether a child under the age of 15 has committed a criminal act without imposing any sanction, were reformed. The original purpose of this procedure is to provide the social services with a sufficient basis for assessing the child’s need for care and support measures. Through the reform, a presumption rule was introduced, according to which prosecutors, as a general rule, shall bring evidentiary proceedings in cases of serious crime. This has led to a substantial increase in the number of such cases. In the most recent legislative proposal, The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Straffbarhetsåldern), both a lowering of the age of criminal responsibility and a further reduction of the presumption threshold for evidentiary proceedings are proposed.
The aim of this thesis is to analyse how the reasons justifying evidentiary proceedings have changed and how this, in turn, has reshaped the functions of this legal institution in light of new criminal law and children’s rights frameworks. Using a legal-analytical method, the thesis critically examines how a further expansion of evidentiary proceedings relates to the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular the best interests of the child in Article 3 and the right to a child-adapted criminal process in Article 40. The thesis also examines the parallel proceedings that arise when children and criminally responsible persons are suspected of the same offence.
The analysis is structured around the investigative phase, the adjudicative phase, and the reaction phase, which enables a systematic comparison of how the processes converge and the child rights- and legal certainty-related tensions that result. The thesis further addresses the potential influence of evidentiary proceedings on the shift towards a lowered age of criminal responsibility, as well as the legal certainty risks such a lowering may entail for the child within the criminal process.
The thesis concludes that the proposed expansion of evidentiary proceedings, in its current form, does not fulfil the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Three deficiencies are identified: (1) the absence of a transparent and systematic child impact assessment in accordance with Article 3, (2) the lack of a clearly articulated and reasoned balancing of interests explaining why the best interests of the child should give way to other societal interests, and (3) the absence of an analysis of how the reform is intended to ensure a child-adapted criminal process in line with Article 40, and why alternative measures are not considered capable of achieving the same objectives. In addition, parallel proceedings in the investigative, adjudicative, and reaction phases create an arrangement that is difficult to reconcile with the requirements of a child-adapted criminal process, particularly where children are in practice handled in ways that increasingly resemble adult procedures without a corresponding strengthening of safeguards. At the same time, evidentiary proceedings have contributed to normalising the presence of children within the criminal process and have thereby had some influence on the shift towards a lowered age of criminal responsibility. This may cause unclear boundaries and reduced foreseeability for the child within the criminal process.
Overall, the analysis demonstrates that the Convention on the Rights of the Child can only achieve genuine effect within criminal law if a coherent and long-term holistic approach is applied, in which the best interests of the child, the child’s need for protection, and legal certainty are prioritised.}},
author = {{Stenberg, Sara}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Barn under straffbarhetsåldern i straffprocessen - En analys av bevistalans utvidgning i ljuset av barnkonventionens principer om barnets bästa i straffprocessen}},
year = {{2025}},
}