The Swedish sexual consent legislation was introduced in July 1, 2018. The government bill that the sexual consent law was based on declared that sexual relations should be voluntary and that sexual offences are an expression of disrespect of a person’s sexual integrity. The bill stated that a law based on consent in a more distinct way could meet this need. The purpose of this study is to investigate if the increased number of rape convictions, since the introduction of the law, can be explained by a change in the work with and attitude towards sexual offences by the police. To achieve this, in-depth interviews with policemen have been conducted. The study shows that some parts of the work with and attitude towards sexual offences can be directly connected to the sexual consent legislation. Other parts are indirectly connected, and some parts cannot be connected at all. Overall, it can be said that the changes that are described in this study can in some respects be connected to the sexual consent law. The result therefore suggests that the increased number of rape convictions since the sexual consent law could be explained by a change in the work with and attitude towards sexual offences by the police.

On the first of july 2018 Sweden adopted a new definition of rape and introduced a legislation for rape when the preparator acts negligently. It´s criminalized when the suspect undertakes the sexual act with lack of consent. Depending on if the preparator did it with intent or negligently defines if it´s rape or rape based on negligence. The main purpose is to ensure that every sexual act is grounded in free choice and to defend the sexual integrity. On the other hand it´s important for the person who continues the sexual action to trust the other persons agreements. For that reason it's also fundamental that everyone can calculate the effects of their actions in a democratic society based on law without discretion.    The purpose of this essay is to investigate the meaning of “consent”, if it´s relevant how the victim acts or when the sexual force occures for what the preparator can be blamed for. Furthermore the purpose is to, based on what is presented, analyze if the perpetrators legal rights have been dismissed for profit of the penal code. The methods used are a legal dogmatic, legal analytic and a legal politic method. The legal dogmatic method is used to confirm the legal definition of consent and what is needed to blame the suspect. This is done with the source of the law as wording of an act, legislative history and doctrine. When the law is assessed, the six cases are analyzed based on how they fulfill the demands of the rule of law and to highlight issues with the rape clause. The legal politic method is used to answer if the preparators legal rights has underdetermined for the legislation of rape by the rules of justice.    The result shows that the necessary condition of “consent” doesn´t involve any specific rules of act without the parties participating in the sexual act. The definition of participating isn’t defined which means that both active and passive behavior can be an indication for consent. The court of justice should instead focus on what has been said, happened or expressed in another way, when the court determines if it's a lack of consent between the parties. It´s not defined what expressed in another way means, instead it's up for the court to decide based on the individual situation. Furthermore, what has been said, happened or expressed in another way is relevant if the suspect can be blamed for the action. In general if the victim has been sexually active in the past, a signal is required from the victim so the preparator can understand that the counterpart doesn´t want to continue; quite the opposite if the counterpart are quiescent or ambivalent to have sex, the person who want to have sex, needs to control if the counterpart wants the same. Otherwise it's up to the counterpart to decide if the person consented to the action or not, which means it shows afterwards if a crime was committed or not. If the person understood or should have understood that the counterpart didn´t act voluntarily for having sex based on what the parts had said, acted or expressed in a other way is important for which crime, rape or rape with negligence, the preparator can be blamed for.    In consideration to the lack of requirements for “voluntarily participating” isn´t legaly defined, it's up to the individual judges to decide the meaning of it depending on the curcomstances in the individual case. Because of that, in some situations, it´s hard for the preparator to forsee the consequenses of its actions. That means that the law hasn´t fullfilled the suspects legaly rights as it should. / Den 1 juli 2018 trädde den s.k. samtyckeslagen i kraft innebärande att den som agerat med uppsåt eller oaktsamt och företagit en sexuell handling mot den som inte deltog frivilligt döms för våldtäkt alternativt oaktsam våldtäkt. Lagen antogs efter en mångårig debatt mellan rätten till sexuellt självbestämmande och den tilltalades rättighet till en rättssäker prövning av saken. Sexuell samlevnad är basalt för människans natur och har varit en förutsättning för mänsklig fortplantning. Det är därför av yttersta vikt att sexualbrottslagstiftningen skyddar mot övergrepp som sker mot offrets vilja samtidigt som den misstänkta inte ska bestraffas på godtyckliga grunder.    Syftet med uppsatsen är att bringa klarhet i frågan vad som avses med att personen deltar frivilligt i den sexuella akten. Därtill utreds om målsägandens beteende och när den sexuella handlingen företogs har betydelse för den tilltalades skuld. Slutligen, med beaktande av vad som framkommit, analyseras frågan om samtyckeslagen införts på bekostnad av rättssäkerhetskraven. De metoder som tillämpas är den rättsdogmatiska-, rättsanalytiska- och rättspolitiska metoderna. Med den rättsdogmatiska metoden fastställs gällande utifrån rättskällorna vilka för uppsatsen i huvudsak är författning, doktrin och praxis. När gällande rätt fastställts analyserar följderna av de sex redogjorda domarna. Dessa domar i kombination de deskriptiva delarna används för att analysera om rättssäkerhetskraven om legalitet, förutsägbarhet och konformitet åsidosatts till förmån för samtyckeslagens instiftande.    Analysen visar att kravet på ett icke-frivilligt deltagande inte innefattar några särskilda krav på ett visst handlingssätt. Ett frivilligt deltagande kan påvisas på obegränsat många sätt enligt lagstiftaren och därför kan passivitetsfall vara ett uttryck för frivilligt deltagande. Istället ska domstolen särskilt beakta vad om sagts, gjorts eller framkommit på annat sätt när den bedömer om målsäganden inte deltagit frivilligt. Inte heller dessa uttryckssätt uppställer krav på ett visst handlande. Det väsentliga för bedömningen är att målsäganden deltog frivilligt. Om målsäganden hävdar att den inte deltog frivilligt ska bedömningen utgå från vad som fick den tilltalade att tro att målsäganden deltog frivilligt. Bedömningen härleds till gärningsmannens skuld där ett likgiltighetsuppsåt åtminstone måste styrkas av åklagaren för att döma denne till våldtäkt. Annars får bedömningen ske mot oaktsam våldtäkt där åklagaren har att påvisa att den tilltalade förfarit medvetet eller omedvetet oaktsamt. Generellt sett kan uttalas att ju lägre aktivitetsnivån varit i det föregående skedet desto enklare är det att styrka uppsåt eller att målsäganden tydligt manifesterat att den inte deltar frivilligt.    Med beaktande av att det inte är definierat vad betydelsen av att målsäganden inte deltar frivilligt kan det inte på förhand besvaras vad som är straffbart. Den enskilda domaren måste avgöra vad ett icke-frivilligt deltagande innebär av normativt slag. Samtyckeslagen åsidosätter legalitetsprincipens krav och det blir då svårt att förutse om den sexuella handlingen var välkomnad eftersom det kommer framgå i efterhand. Det blir då svårt att ”rätta sig” efter lagen och den handlingsdirigerande effekten minskas. I de fall där det förekommit någon grad av sexuellt intresse som fått den tilltalade att tro att motparten varit sexuellt tillgänglig ankommer det denna att påvisa motsatsen för att kunna styrka den tilltalades skuld; därmed finns anledning att ifrågasätta lagens betydelse.

The purpose of this study was to examine voluntary organizations' perceptions of the newsexual offenses legislation, the so-called consent law, as well as their experiences andperceptions of attitudes and norms linked to women's sexual integrity and self-determination.The study aims to highlight the effectiveness of the consent law to have a normative effect andchange harmful attitudes and norms in society around women's bodies. To investigate this, aqualitative study was used where semi-structured interviews were conducted with participantsfrom various voluntary organizations. The study concluded that the consent law to some extenthad the normative effect that was hoped for, at least as far as can be seen at present. The studyalso showed that the preventive work and dissemination of knowledge is an important part oftrying to change the harmful attitudes and norms in the society, partly because the legislationshould work to the maximum and partly because the legislation itself cannot eliminate sexualabuse. However, legislation is necessary and an important step towards a society without sexualabuse and where women's bodies are not objectified.

Av de svenska internetanvändarna använder 83 procent sociala medier och 63 procent av dessa använder sociala medier dagligen. Tekniken i dagens samhälle har skapat en plattform för sexualbrott. Lagarna idag inkluderar inte alltid sexualbrott via sociala medier. Studien visar att bristande kunskap och beteende bland internetanvändarna är två stora problem. Det finns ingen statistik om de vanligaste sexualbrotten på sociala medier men enligt de intervjuade är sexuellt ofredande det vanligaste sexualbrottet som sker på sociala medier. Problemet med sexualbrott på sociala medier bör ses som ett problem av de mänskliga rättigheterna och bör hanteras på ett djupare plan. Ansvarstagandet ligger hos flera aktörer än polisen och det behövs mer kunskap inom området för att kunna utbilda alla aktörer som har en koppling till internet. Vidare forskning om metoder för att motverka sexualbrott på sociala medier kan leda till hjälpmedel för de aktörer som kan göra förändring. / Of the Swedish internet users, 83 percent use social media and 63 percent of them use socialmedia daily. The new technology have created a platform for sexual offenses. The laws do notinclude sexual offenses via social media. The study shows that lack of knowledge andbehaviour among internet users are two major problems. There are no statistics on the mostcommon sexual offenses on social media, but according to the interviewees, sexually abusivesex crime is the most common sexual crime that occurs on social media. The problem of sexual offenses on social media should be seen as a problem of human rights and should be dealt with on a deeper level. Responsibility lies with more individuals than the police and more knowledge is needed in the area to be able to educate all respective who have a connection to the internet. Further research on methods for counteracting sexual offenses on social media can lead to aids for those organizations who can make change.

The new Sexual Offenses Act was signed into law on the first of June 2018, as a result of the #metoo movement’s emphasis on taking action against sexual violence and harassment. The law, that is based on a lack of voluntariness in sexually connected behaviors, goes by the name the Consent Act. Since educational deficiencies has been identified, the Swedish government has commissioned the National Agency for Education to evaluate, among other things, consent in the sex education. The new Sexual Offenses Act should also be incorporated into the sex education. The study focuses on how the #metoo movement has influenced the debate between Swedish political parties over implementing the Consent Act in school curricula for sex education, which is founded on three central concepts: consent, gender equality, and norm criticism. The scope of this thesis is primarily the debate of the Swedish parliament and the planned curricula for sex education in the school for pupils with learning disabilities. Through a qualitative content analysis, questions about how the parties’ interpretations of the three concepts have influenced the changes that have been made in the sex education curricula before the autumn term of 2022, are intended to be answered. The main conclusion of the analysis suggests that the concepts used in the political debate regarding education, also have been influential in the recent relabeling of the subject sex education.

Both implementation and sexual crime are two complex fields, and within the Consent Act (samtyckeslagen), the consent part made sexual crimes even more complicated. This examination’s purpose is to investigate and analyze whether street-level bureaucrats, such as investigators, prosecutors, and lawyers experienced a change in their work since the Consent Act came into force and then, based on the personal governing characteristic, investigate what conditions they feel they have, to be able to implement the law. The essay examines this by doing semi-structured conversational interviews with all the professional groups. The study shows that the street-level bureaucrats have experienced a change in their work since the Consent Act came into force, where the most significant change is that a greater number of people report the crime and that more cases are assessed where there is a possible crime. Furthermore, there are both opportunities and challenges in all subcategories (knowledge, resource, method, influence, and ability to act) for one of the professional groups, if not several, in implementing the law. Both in the context of their work, such as the fact that the lawyers and the investigator believe that they lack knowledge and that the prosecutor has sufficient knowledge through the work, but also conditions that lie outside of their work, such as what role the plaintiff and suspect may have in the work of street-level bureaucrats.

On July 1st 2018, a new law entered Sweden that would hopefully will lead to a better justice process regarding sexual offenses. This law was given the name consent law, which states that sex should be voluntary for the parties who are involved in the sexual acts. If not, the offender will be charged with rape. The majority of convictions for rape have easily led to the perpetrator being released from the charges. This indicates that something is not right and it’s not wrong with the evidence, the parties or persons working with the cases, but it is something that is defective in the law that has been found before. The previous laws, the Swedish Committee has considered that some terms are outdated for use in the current law. The previous laws did not agree with ECHR articles and since Sweden has ratified it, the national laws needed to be comprehensive. Through the course of the essay, we will go through various factors that have led to the current legislation, what resistance it has received and what criticism has it received when it came into force? It will be described what the law looks like and what application difficulties it may have. The purpose of the new law is to strengthen the sexual integrity of the victim and criminalize the perpetrator's behavior and negligence, which will be included in the thesis. Negligence is a new crime that came in connection with the new law. The law is designed to change the image of the ideal victim and put more focus on the perpetrator's actions to change the society's image of what rape is and hopefully more people will gain more knowledge, which will make big changes in the long run.

Den 1 juli 2018 implementerades den så kallade samtyckeslagen i Sverige, vilket bland annat innebar en revidering i våldtäktsbestämmelsen. Från att vara krav på våld, hot, tvång eller utnyttjande av särskild utsatt situation för straffansvar till dagens rekvisit brist på frivillighet. Debatten kring en samtyckesreglering har pågått under en längre tid i Sverige, där det ej införts tidigare dels på grund av att risken att fokus på målsägande i utredningar och rättegångar skulle bli för stort. Syftet med rapporten är därmed att undersöka hur arbetssättet hos brottsutredarna har förändrats sedan lagändringen, samt vad de upplever för eventuella svårigheter och möjligheter i arbetet. Detta har studerats genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med utredare anställda av Polismyndigheten med kravet att de ska ha utrett våldtäktsärenden både innan och efter lagändringen. Genom studiens resultat uppkom fem huvudteman; Bevisning, Rättssäkerhet, Vidareutbildning, Målsägandebiträdets roll och Frozen fright. Kort sammanfattat ansåg informanterna att arbetssättet överlag var oförändrat, dock med andra typer av frågor i förhör med målsägande och misstänkt. De upplevde det nya rekvisitet som tydligt men det gick att antyda att de hade önskat mer utbildning i samband med implementeringen. Ett målsägandebiträde spelar enligt informanterna en stor roll i utredningen och kan vara till stor hjälp i deras arbete. Frozen fright är enligt utredarna ett vanligt förekommande tillstånd bland personer utsatta för våldtäkt och det har undersökts i syfte att det med dagens lagstiftning klassas som en våldtäkt om någon utnyttjar en person som befinner sig i denna utsatta situation. Förhoppningen är att rapportens slutsatser kan användas vid implementering av lagar i Brottsbalken samt bidra med kunskap i det fortsatta brottsutredande arbetet och inom rättsväsendet. / The 1st of July 2018 the consent law was implemented in Sweden, which among other things meant a revision in the Rape Act. From requirements of violence, threat, constraint or exploitation of a particularly vulnerable situation for criminal liability to today's necessary prerequisite lack of free will. The debate on consent regulation has been on for a long time in Sweden, with the main reason for not being introduced earlier is because of the risk that focus on the plaintiff in investigations and trials would be too big. The purpose of this report is hence to investigate how the way of working among the criminal investigators has been altered since the change in the law, and what difficulties and possibilities they experience in their work. This have been studied through five semi-structured interviews with investigators employed by the Swedish police authority with the requirement that they should have been investigating rape cases both before and after the change in the law. Five main themes arose through the study's results; Evidence, Legal certainty, Education, The role of the plaintiff’s counsel and Frozen fright. In short, the investigators considered that their way of working was generally unchanged, but with other types of questions in questioning of the plaintiff and suspect. They perceived the new prerequisite as easy to interpret, however, the implementation could have come with more education. According to the informants, a plaintiff’s counsel plays a major role in the investigation and can be of great help in their work. Frozen fright is according to the investigators a common condition among people exposed to rape, in current jurisdiction, it is classified as rape if someone exploits a person who is in this vulnerable situation, therefore why this is studied. The expectation is that the report’s conclusions can be used in the implementation of laws and contribute with knowledge in the continued criminal investigation and in the judiciary.