Sexköpslagen i Sverige respektive Finland: En komparativ studie ur ett moralfilosofiskt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The essay discusses the regulation of the purchase of sexual services in the Nordic countries, with a particular focus on the comparison of Swedish legislation which is found in Chapter 6, paragraph 11 of the Swedish Penal Code (BrB), stating that anyone who engages in a temporary sexual connection for compensation is sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison for the purchase of sexual services. Finland has a partial ban on sex purchases, criminalizing the purchase of sexual services when the person involved is subjected to procuring and human trafficking. Both Swedish and Finnish legislation criminalize the buyer of the sexual service, not the seller. Individuals engaged in prostitution do not commit a crime, and complicity rules do not apply. The Nordic model is a description of a sex purchase law similar to the Swedish one. It can be noted that the legislation in the Nordic countries generally resembles each other, while there are clear differences in the legislation of each country – as evidenced in the comparison between Sweden and Finland. In evaluating the legislation of each country on the harm principle of liberalism, it can be seen that neither the Swedish nor Finnish provisions satisfy the harm principle’s idea of unlimited freedom as long as no one else is harmed. The Swedish regulation criminalizes sex purchases and limits human freedom even if the person selling the sexual service does not suffer harm. Finland’s regulation of sex purchases, on the other hand, risks missing those individuals who are not victims of human trafficking but sell sexual services and suffer harm from it. Although individual freedom is not restricted, the legislation does not take into account consideration of protecting interests of those harmed by sex purchases due to factors such as mental health issues, precarious financial situations, or substance abuse.