Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

En våldsam frivillighet - En studie av hur frivillighetsbedömningen görs av hovrätten vid oväntade våldsamma inslag.

Bertilsson, Alma LU (2025) LAGF03 20252
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Den 1 juli 2018 ändrades våldtäktsbrottet i Sverige, så att det inte längre krävdes att den tilltalade använt våld, hot eller utnyttjande för att få målsä-gande att delta i samlaget. I stället drogs gränsen för våldtäkt vid att delta-gandet inte varit frivilligt.
Frivillighet är i detta sammanhang inte samma sak som målsägandens vilja. I stället handlar det om hur offret har visat den tilltalade vad hen ville. Det innebär dock inte att det finns ett krav på att målsägande ska visa att hen vill ha sex för att det ska betraktas som frivilligt. Även passivitet kan ge uttryck för frivillighet.
Med tanke på lagtextens vaga formulering, är det inte lätt att avgöra huruvida ett deltagande varit frivilligt. Detta stämmer särskilt när offret... (More)
Den 1 juli 2018 ändrades våldtäktsbrottet i Sverige, så att det inte längre krävdes att den tilltalade använt våld, hot eller utnyttjande för att få målsä-gande att delta i samlaget. I stället drogs gränsen för våldtäkt vid att delta-gandet inte varit frivilligt.
Frivillighet är i detta sammanhang inte samma sak som målsägandens vilja. I stället handlar det om hur offret har visat den tilltalade vad hen ville. Det innebär dock inte att det finns ett krav på att målsägande ska visa att hen vill ha sex för att det ska betraktas som frivilligt. Även passivitet kan ge uttryck för frivillighet.
Med tanke på lagtextens vaga formulering, är det inte lätt att avgöra huruvida ett deltagande varit frivilligt. Detta stämmer särskilt när offret initialt deltagit frivilligt, men frivilligheten upphört då hen blev utsatt för våld. Idag är det ett stort problem att unga tjejer, mot sin vilja, utsätts för strypvåld under sex. Denna uppsats syftar till att utreda hur dessa fall be-döms rättsligt av hovrätterna.
Uppsatsen tittar först på hur lagtexten är formulerad och sedan på proposit-ionen och avgöranden från HD. På det sättet utreds hur frivillighet rent ge-nerellt ska tolkas. Efter det tittar uppsatsen på hovrättsfall där offret har utsatts för våld under ett samlag som inledningsvis varit frivilligt.
Härigenom framkom att hovrätterna dömer olika i fall som verkar lika varandra. Till exempel ansåg de i vissa fall att deltagandet i samlaget var en följd av våldet som användes, medan de inte ansåg det i andra fall. Var-för resultatet blev olika var inte särskilt uppenbart. Därtill ansåg hovrätter-na ibland att den tilltalade hade agerat med uppsåt, medan de ibland ansåg att han hade varit grovt oaktsam. Detta trots att det i vissa fall fanns tydli-gare tecken på att målsägande inte deltagit frivilligt, i fallen där han ansågs sakna uppsåt.
Anledningen till att hovrätterna dömer så olika beror troligen på att lagtex-ten är så vagt formulerad avseende vad som utgör ett frivilligt deltagande. Jag noterade dock att offren inte hade så svårt att uttrycka sin motvilja som jag hade trott. Jag undrar om detta kanske beror på att just strypsex är så förknippat med livsfara. (Less)
Abstract
On the 1st of July 2018, the Swedish rape law changed. To be classified as rape, it was no longer necessary that the sex was the result of violence, threat or abuse by the perpetrator. Instead, it was considered rape if a per-son performed a sexual act on someone who did not engage voluntarily.
It is, however, important to note, that engaging voluntarily, does not mean the same as wanting to have sex. Rather, the law focuses on how the poten-tial victim has shown the perpetrator his/her will. This does not mean that a person has to show that she or he wants to engage. It is possible to engage voluntarily without showing any signs of this at all.
Since the law is vague, judging whether engagement was voluntary is not an easy judgement to... (More)
On the 1st of July 2018, the Swedish rape law changed. To be classified as rape, it was no longer necessary that the sex was the result of violence, threat or abuse by the perpetrator. Instead, it was considered rape if a per-son performed a sexual act on someone who did not engage voluntarily.
It is, however, important to note, that engaging voluntarily, does not mean the same as wanting to have sex. Rather, the law focuses on how the poten-tial victim has shown the perpetrator his/her will. This does not mean that a person has to show that she or he wants to engage. It is possible to engage voluntarily without showing any signs of this at all.
Since the law is vague, judging whether engagement was voluntary is not an easy judgement to make. This is especially the case when the victim initially engaged voluntarily but was then exposed to violence against their will. Today it is a common issue that young girls are strangled without their consent during intercourse. The question for this essay is how these cases are judged legally in the court of appeals.
This essay will first look at how the law is constructed and then look at the government bill as well as precedents from the supreme court on what con-stitutes as engaging voluntarily. After that, the essay will look at cases from the court of appeals where the victim was exposed to violence during inter-course that was initially voluntary.
In doing this, the essay found that the court of appeals judges differently in cases that seem similar. For example, in some cases engagement in sexual acts was seen as a consequence of the violence used, while it was not in some cases. It is not obvious why these differences exist. In some cases, the perpetrator was found to have acted with intent, while in others he was found to have been grossly negligent. This was the case even if there seemed to have been clearer signs that engagement was not voluntary in the cases where the court found that the perpetrator lacked intent.
The reason why the judgements are so dissimilar might be that the law is so unclear as to what constitutes as voluntary engagement. One thing I did notice was that the victims did not struggle as much as I thought they would with showing that they did not engage voluntarily. Maybe the reason for this is the severe danger that strangling might pose. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bertilsson, Alma LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Straffrätt
language
Swedish
id
9217567
date added to LUP
2026-02-09 14:29:02
date last changed
2026-02-09 14:29:02
@misc{9217567,
  abstract     = {{On the 1st of July 2018, the Swedish rape law changed. To be classified as rape, it was no longer necessary that the sex was the result of violence, threat or abuse by the perpetrator. Instead, it was considered rape if a per-son performed a sexual act on someone who did not engage voluntarily. 
It is, however, important to note, that engaging voluntarily, does not mean the same as wanting to have sex. Rather, the law focuses on how the poten-tial victim has shown the perpetrator his/her will. This does not mean that a person has to show that she or he wants to engage. It is possible to engage voluntarily without showing any signs of this at all.
Since the law is vague, judging whether engagement was voluntary is not an easy judgement to make. This is especially the case when the victim initially engaged voluntarily but was then exposed to violence against their will. Today it is a common issue that young girls are strangled without their consent during intercourse. The question for this essay is how these cases are judged legally in the court of appeals.
This essay will first look at how the law is constructed and then look at the government bill as well as precedents from the supreme court on what con-stitutes as engaging voluntarily. After that, the essay will look at cases from the court of appeals where the victim was exposed to violence during inter-course that was initially voluntary. 
In doing this, the essay found that the court of appeals judges differently in cases that seem similar. For example, in some cases engagement in sexual acts was seen as a consequence of the violence used, while it was not in some cases. It is not obvious why these differences exist. In some cases, the perpetrator was found to have acted with intent, while in others he was found to have been grossly negligent. This was the case even if there seemed to have been clearer signs that engagement was not voluntary in the cases where the court found that the perpetrator lacked intent.
The reason why the judgements are so dissimilar might be that the law is so unclear as to what constitutes as voluntary engagement. One thing I did notice was that the victims did not struggle as much as I thought they would with showing that they did not engage voluntarily. Maybe the reason for this is the severe danger that strangling might pose.}},
  author       = {{Bertilsson, Alma}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{En våldsam frivillighet - En studie av hur frivillighetsbedömningen görs av hovrätten vid oväntade våldsamma inslag.}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}