Abstract
A fundamental starting point for this article is that place in a broad sense is a crucial, yet forgotten, dimension in the legal analysis of rape. Therefore, in this study I ask what role place has in the adjudication of rape; in the interpretation of rape law as well as in the evaluation of evidence. I analyze three Swedish rape cases, two from the Supreme Court, marking out the sexual act of rape, and one case from an appellate court, applying this rule. The latter is closely related to the Swedish #metoo movement and extremely high-profiled. I take a closer look at how the act of rape is linked to place in these judgements. Concretely, I study the narration and classification of the crimes, including the legal labelling and the positioning and portrayal of the complainant and the defendant. My main conclusion is that place is quite absent in the courts’ legal narratives of rape. In my view, notwithstanding obvious place-related events. Apart from stressing the place of the body, in the first case, place was absent in the legal narratives in all instances. The court did not touch upon the question of whether the complainant should be able to feel safe in her own home and not have to fear violence and abuse. Nor did it touch upon similar aspects in the third case where the occupational and the public character of the place and shame, according to the victim’s own story, hindered her from reacting loudly. In the second case, the appellate court invoked place by implicitly stressing home and belonging when noting that the young man was far from home, thus being particularly vulnerable. Later the Supreme Court declared that sexual vulnerability should not be related to place at all and decided not to label the event as rape.
Highlights
During the #metoo movement in the autumn of 2017, stories about sexual assault, including rape, garnered much attention worldwide
During the last decades countless rape cases have been highlighted and debated in media all over the world. These discussions in the media and among the general public have led to scrutiny and a critical review of the applicable law and the legal system
The handling of rape in Swedish criminal law has been under critique for the last two decades, with debate on the topic tracing back to the 1970s (Wendt Höjer, 2002 and SOU, 1976:9)
Summary
During the #metoo movement in the autumn of 2017, stories about sexual assault, including rape, garnered much attention worldwide. The handling of rape in Swedish criminal law has been under critique for the last two decades, with debate on the topic tracing back to the 1970s (Wendt Höjer, 2002 and SOU, 1976:9) This critique concerns, among other things, the definition of rape and treatment of victims during the criminal legal process, and has come from multiple directions: the media, legal scholarship, legal practitioners, feminist academics, and the general public (Leijonhufvud, 2015; Fatta, 2018). There is still a need for more explicit inquiry into how space, including place, is related to rape in law and legal practice, one that simultaneously deals with the legal analysis of rape.
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