Det osynliga våldets problem - En transdisciplinär analys av straffrättens hantering av psykiskt partnervåld

Sammanfattning: This thesis seeks an answer to the question: does current criminal law adequately answer the perceived problem of psychological partner violence? Based on available statistics psychological violence is the most common form of partner violence, despite this its’ role in public debate, legislation and applied law has been peripheral until recently. The main question stems from the hypothesis that Swedish criminal law faces difficulties regarding psychological partner violence. The purpose of this thesis is to find out what those difficulties are, to evaluate the reach of the law, and its’ flaws as applied to the violence. The methodical framework is transdisciplinary, post-modern, and gender critical. Applied methodology is legal-analytical and socio-legal, with an external, critical perspective as its’ core. Ultimately it concerns law as applied, how it affects society and is in turn affected. The answer to the central question results in a problem-description; concerning practical as well as theoretical dimensions, and a legal-political discussion concerning the role of criminal law: regarding psychological partner violence as a societal problem and its’ victims. An answer to the central question first requires an answer to the question what is psychological partner violence? Based on a multi-disciplinary research summary it is primarily an expression of normative constructs and exploitation of individual vulnerabilities. No-one, regardless of how they are defined as a group, is exempt from its harms. The research summary is deconstructed and reconstructed as psychological and emotional violence, PEV. PEV is both definition and model, a holistic conceptual construct built around concrete expressions of violence, the overall context of abuse, and consideration of the individual. PEV also serves as a socio-legal tool, used to explore the extent to which current criminal law encompass the violence as defined. PEV as a tool is applied to 16 penal provisions, the analysis of which serves to map the theoretical extent of criminal law in relation to the conceptual violence. This constitutes the theoretical foundation required to answer the question how does Swedish criminal law apply to the problem? That foundation also provides clues to further issues: of norms and the ability of practiced law to consider overall context and the individual. Those issues are then further explored, including specialized criminal statutes such as the battering of women, grounded in practiced law; and tied to the overall analysis. The conclusions, in summary: the issues facing criminal law are pervasive, branching into every aspect of its’ application. They affect and construct one another. There are no easy, singular solutions. The necessary cooperation and communication between critical legal actors is lacking. As an answer to the invisible problem, the 109 000 to 300 000 individuals whose daily lives are steeped in severe emotional and psychological harm, current Swedish criminal law is inadequate.