STOCKHOLM There has been a big uproar in Sweden after the court of appeal acquitted a man convicted of child rape in the district court based on the interpretation of one word.
Docent of forensic psychology Julia Korkman has read both the decision of the Halmstad District Court and the recent acquittal decision of the Court of Appeal of Western Sweden.
The district court sentenced a 50-year-old man to three years in prison for child rape, the court of appeal acquitted him completely.
– I think the Court of Appeal’s decision can be justifiably criticized, says Korkman, who visited Stockholm this week.
Julia Korkman received her doctorate in 2006 in forensic psychology. The topic was hearing children when investigating suspicions of sexual abuse.
The court looked for a solution in the dictionary
In the Western Swedish case, a 10-year-old girl has told and described how a 50-year-old man’s hand had been in her pimp and one of her fingers.
The girl had used the Swedish equivalent of pimp, i.e. the word “snippa”.
The Court of Appeal had looked up its meaning in the dictionary. According to the Swedish Academy’s dictionary, “snippa” means a girl’s external genitalia.
In this respect, the Court of Appeal’s decision has been criticized as a “unclemen’s” decision, i.e. it has been considered that the decision is far from the everyday life of children and families.
Korkman ei yhdy tähän arvosteluun vaan sanoo, että hän tuntee monia miehiä, jotka tietäisivät heti mistä tyttö puhuu ja mitä hän tarkoittaa, jos hän käyttää sanaa ”snippa” eli pimppi.
Korkman himself recognizes the background of the word snippa, because for a long time the Swedish language lacked a word similar to pimp, which children could have used.
At the beginning of the millennium, “snippa” was entered into the dictionary and the word quickly became established as a pair of “snoppen”, i.e. pippel. of the Swedish public broadcasting company SVT’s children’s video (you will switch to another service)made the words familiar to everyone.
Korkman: The question of justice is impossible even for an adult
Based on the dictionary, the Court of Appeal had concluded that the accused had touched the girl’s external genitalia, and the girl had not been able to say how deep inside the man’s finger had been.
According to Korkman, determining it would be difficult, if not impossible, even for an adult.
– Would any of us be able to say such a thing. Humans are not very good at judging distances in centimeters visually, but especially not with tactile senses.
According to Korkman, the girl has described the events as well as a 10-year-old can, and based on the description of the sentence, at least it is not unclear to him what the girl means.
Korkman emphasizes that he has not heard the girl’s interrogation tapes, but there are many references to their content in the judgments.
The verdict has caused a great uproar in Sweden and the discussion continues lively on social media with the code #jagvetvadensnippaär or #tiedänmikäpimppion.
The editors of the dictionary have announced that they will correct the meaning of the word snippa to include all of a woman’s genitals, not just the external genitalia.
The public prosecutor can appeal to the Supreme Court. The application period for the change ends on Thursday of next week.
The Court of Appeal’s decision has also had political consequences. In Sweden, lay judges are also present in courts of appeal.
Two of those who were making the decision have now resigned from their position. The suspicion is that the Social Democratic Party forced its representative to resign after the controversial verdict.
Could the same have happened in Finland?
According to Korkman, the police in Sweden also interrogate children, even small children. In Finland, interrogations of children are called interviews and they are only conducted by psychologists and police officers trained for the task.
According to Korkman, the Finnish model still needs to be developed. He still needs a quality control agency that could, if necessary, evaluate statements related to child criminal investigations that go to court.
But would it have been possible for a 10-year-old girl to go to court in Finland in the same way as in Sweden?
According to Julia Korkman, you should never say never, but she believes that a similar acquittal could not have come about in Finland.
– It’s a bit hard for me to see it, but “never say never”.
News corrected 18.3. at 11:03: Clarified the sentence from the quality control agency.