Rättssubjekt eller objekt : Om målsägandeställning vid köp av sexuella tjänster

Sammanfattning: Protocol for criminal processes regarding the purchasing of sex stipulates that those in prostitution are to be regarded as witnesses rather than an injured person. The judging whether someone in prostitution is to be seen as an injured person is made on a case-by-case basis. In order for someone to be considered to have an injured person’s position in a criminal process, the crime must either have been committed against them, or else caused them offense or damage. Someone considered to have a strong interest in justice served may also be considered an injured person. Shared by all qualifications for someone to have a status as an injured person is a concern for relevant protection in the crime considered. The purchasing of sex is not considered as a crime against a person, but a crime against the public. Since the Supreme Court in 2001 made it clear that purchasing of sex is to be regarded as a crime against the public, certain features concerning the situation of the person in prostitution have been taken into account. Potential limitations to the sexual self-determination of the person in prostitution has come to affect the penal value, and if the person in prostitution is a victim of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, the buyer is now sentenced for rape as the sexual intercourse is no longer considered voluntary, courtesy of the new consent-based criminal law. Over time, cases of sex purchases have increasingly come to consider the situation for those in prostitution, as well as the right to sexual self-determination and integrity. Thus it is increasingly regarded as a crime against a person. Based on a literature study of research in the field, it is concluded that prostitution in the majority of cases involves exploitation and oppression. A majority of those in prostitution also experience physical and sexual violence, suffer from PTSD and a large majority want to leave prostitution. The purchasing of sex can therefore be regarded as both abusive and harmful to those in prostitution, similar to the definition of an injured person. In any case, those in prostitution are considered more interested in restitution than the public in general. Today the judging whether someone in prostitution should be considered an injured person is made on a case-by-case basis. Yet, apart from situations where human trafficking or in some cases pimping is concerned, determining in which cases someone is to be defined as an injured person is an uncertain process. This is not in accordance with the principle of predictability. In a study directed at police, it has emerged that the assessment of which procedural subject of law those in prostitution are considered as, is subjective. Based on this, and based on the help and support needed by those in prostitution, those in prostitution ought to be provided status as an injured person in the criminal process.