Sexual Violence in Criminal Law

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the recent criminalization of negligent rape in Sweden, introduced in 2018. The aim is to contribute to the discussion of criminalization as it relates to violence against women, while taking a broad view of criminalization that includes not only criminalization per se but also the application of law. The analysis of the application of the crime of negligent rape, from the perspective of legal presumptions, criminal and procedural principles, and implicit premises clearly illustrates the complexity of legal certainty and legal protection when it comes to sexual violence. The practice of criminal law could be described as a function of these three intertwined factors, so the criminalization of sexual violence, and perhaps of other types of offenses as well, should therefore be analyzed and evaluated from the standpoint of all three factors rather than just in relation to one of them.