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Picture from the police raid on apartment brothels during Operation Cod.
1 of 2Photo: The police
A record number were caught buying sex last year.
Fines will now soon be removed from the penalty scale – but there will be no more sex buyers sentenced to prison.
– Most will receive a suspended sentence and a fine, says Dennis Martinsson, researcher in criminal law.
No one knows how many sex purchases take place annually in Sweden. But last year, a record number were caught – a total of 715 people were prosecuted.
This can be compared with an average of just under 300 over the past five years.
Despite the fact that prison has always been on the penalty scale, no one has been sentenced to prison for buying sex only in Sweden – the most common sanction has instead been a daily fine.
But on August 1, fines will be eliminated from the penalty scale, and the penalty for buying sex will instead be imprisonment “for a maximum of one year”.
However, this will not mean that more sex buyers actually get imprisoned, according to Dennis Martinsson, senior lecturer in law at Stockholm University.
More intervention
The starting point in Sweden is that in the case of crimes with a penalty value for one year, one should try to avoid imprisonment.
– This means that the normal penalty will be a suspended sentence and a fine. It is a little more intrusive than today, but not at all close to a prison sentence, says Dennis Martinsson.
Conditional sentence has a probationary period of two years, during which time you must take care of yourself.
– If you commit new crimes during the trial period, a court can withdraw the conditional sentence and convert it into a prison sentence, says Martinsson.
When the proposal to abolish fines was presented, the Green Party’s Märta Stenevi was clear that all sex buyers should be brought to justice.
– If you take the right to buy another person’s body and in many cases commit serious abuse, it should not be treated equivalent to a traffic offense. These perpetrators will no longer be able to escape a trial, she said.
Avoids trial
But that is not true. Many sex buyers will, despite the change in the law, avoid trial, according to prosecutor Helene Gestrin, who is an expert on sexual crimes.
Even in the case of a suspended sentence, prosecutors can issue a so-called criminal injunction, and the case does not have to be prosecuted. The difference is that in the case of a suspended sentence, the sex buyer is called to a meeting with a prosecutor and may write on a piece of paper that he accepts the punishment.
Today, when it is only a matter of fines, the penalty order is sent by post.
– So it is more time-consuming for the prosecutor to handle a suspended sentence, says prosecutor Helene Gestrin.
Initially, however, it may still be the case that prosecutors need to prosecute a number of sex buyers who have been admitted, in order to get a practice, she says.
No effect
It can also be related to whether the sex buyer has previously committed a crime, or if there is information about abuse.
– Conditional judgment is based on the fact that you are expected to obey the law, and if you have a full load register, it is difficult to believe that you will continue to be so. Then we must prosecute. In the event of alcohol or drug problems, there may be a question of probation.
Dennis Martinsson does not believe that the new legal text will affect the sex trade.
– It will not have any deterrent effect at all, says Dennis Martinsson.
Both he and Helene Gestrin point out that rather than sharper penalties, it is the risk of being discovered that governs people’s choice to commit crime.
– Sex purchases have also been punishable in Sweden for so long that this change will not make any difference in that sense, says Martinsson.
Not “particularly dangerous to society”
In order for the purchase of sex to really mean imprisonment, the government would have had to classify it as a so-called species crime, ie particularly socially dangerous or reprehensible. Then it could have resulted in imprisonment for shorter periods, such as a month or two. This is the case, for example, with drunk driving.
However, one is usually frugal with which crimes are counted as species crimes, because it has such far-reaching consequences, says Dennis Martinsson.
– So it might not have been so realistic anyway, he says.
Another way could have been to sharply increase the minimum penalty for sex purchases.
– At the same time, the penalties in the legal text must be proportionate to each other, says Martinsson.
Had the minimum sentence been set at one or two years in prison for buying sex, some other crimes, which are generally regarded as more serious, might have ended up skewed on the overall scale, he says.
Difficult to prove rape
Since 2018, when the Consent Act was introduced, there has been an opening to convict sex buyers for rape. But as far as is known, this has only happened on one occasion so far.
TT: Why has this not broken through more?
– On the one hand, one must prove that consent from the sex worker did not exist, but that it was de facto human trafficking or the like. On the one hand, one must prove that the sex-buying customer had sufficient insight into it. It is a challenge to reach that evidentiary position in a preliminary investigation, says Helene Gestrin.
Facts
From fine to jail
In 2021, a record number of sex buyers were prosecuted – 715 people.
The years before had an average of just under 300.
The Swedish Sex Purchase Act was introduced on 1 January 1999.
In 2011, the maximum penalty for buying sexual services was tightened, from six months in prison to one year in prison.
On August 1, fines will be removed from the penalty scale.
The Riksdag has also called on the government to return with a proposal to introduce a serious crime for buying sex.
Since 2018, when the new Sexual Offenses Act was introduced, there is an opening in the law to convict sex buyers for rape or negligent rape. This is because the law is based on the principle that all sex must be voluntary.
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