The new consent law in practice
An updated review of the changes in 2018 to the legal rules concerning rape
On 1 July 2018, changes were made to the legislation concerning rape, meaning that the law is now based upon the absence of consent instead of the occurrence of violence, threats or a particularly vulnerable situation. The new law was welcomed by many people as constituting an important societal signal, but there were also concerns (particularly from lawyers) that it would be difficult to apply.
About the publication
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- © Brottsförebyggande rådet 2020
- urn:nbn:se:bra-919
- Report 2020:6
Summary
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) has been commissioned to review the application of the new legal rules. We have looked at all 362 court judgements from 2019 that involved the consummated rape of a woman, as well as 37 judgements from courts of appeal, and one judgement from the Supreme Court. We have also studied crime statistics and have obtained opinions about how well the new rules have been applied from representatives of the legal system and from voluntary organisations.
This review has been conducted at a relatively early stage, and cannot therefore give any definitive picture. Nevertheless, Brå hopes that this report will be of value to discussions of the law’s merits and of any difficulties or legal problems that could arise when courts are to apply the new rules.