On July 1st 2018, a new law entered Sweden that would hopefully will lead to a better justice process regarding sexual offenses. This law was given the name consent

law, which states that sex should be voluntary for the parties who are involved in the sexual acts. If not, the offender will be charged with rape.

The majority of convictions for rape have easily led to the perpetrator being released from the charges. This indicates that something is not right and it’s not wrong with the evidence, the parties or persons working with the cases, but it is something that is defective in the law that has been found before. The previous laws, the Swedish Committee has considered that some terms are outdated for use in the current law.

The previous laws did not agree with ECHR articles and since Sweden has ratified it, the national laws needed to be comprehensive.

Through the course of the essay, we will go through various factors that have led to the current legislation, what resistance it has received and what criticism has it received when it came into force? It will be described what the law looks like and what application difficulties it may have.

The purpose of the new law is to strengthen the sexual integrity of the victim and criminalize the perpetrator's behavior and negligence, which will be included in the thesis. Negligence is a new crime that came in connection with the new law. The law is designed to change the image of the ideal victim and put more focus on the perpetrator's actions to change the society's image of what rape is and hopefully more people will gain more knowledge, which will make big changes in the long run.