THE FINNISH GOVERNMENT on Thursday submitted a bill to reform the criminal code in regards to sex crimes.
The bill is most importantly set to re-define rape as sex with anyone, regardless of age, who has not indicated their consent verbally or non-verbally. The essential elements of rape are currently ruled to have been satisfied if the act involves violence or the threat of violence and the victim is defenceless.
Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP) pointed out in a press conference that the bill marks a significant change that will necessitate new ways of thinking from judges, police and officials.
“Today is a historic day that many have waited for. The right to sexual self-determination belongs to everyone and it mustn’t be compromised in any circumstances. The definition of rape will change so that the will of the victim will be key going forward,” she was quoted as saying in a news conference by YLE.
The bill is also to introduce stiffer punishments for sex crimes against children based on the premise that children are incapable of admissibly consenting to sex with an adult. Sex with an under 16-year-old is thereby to be invariably prosecuted as rape rather than as child sexual abuse, as it typically is today, and the minimum punishment for the crime is to rise from one to two years in prison.
“The reform is our attempt to better protect children, who are in a particularly vulnerable position,” commented Henriksson.
The Ministry of Justice pointed out that the reform would neither set limits on sexual interaction between adults that does not violate the right of any participant to sexual self-determination, nor criminalise interaction between under 16-year-olds that does not violate the right of any participant to sexual self-determination.
The criminal code is to be reinforced also in regards to other sex crimes.
The government is proposing that sexual harassment no longer necessitate physical contact and that the distribution of media depicting another person in a sexual act without the consent of that person be criminalised. The purpose of the latter is to tackle situations where an image or video that may have been created together is later distributed online without the consent of any participant.
Although discussion on tougher punishments for rape had continued for a while, the impetus for the legislative project did not come until late 2017, when the Swedish government presented a bill to criminalise sex with anyone who has not expressed, verbally or non-verbally, their consent to the act.
“If it’s not voluntary, then it isn’t legal,” summarised Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.
A citizens’ initiative calling for the re-definition of rape as non-consensual sex kindled widespread discussion in Finland in 2018, with some commentators pointing to the challenge of demonstrating consent or lack thereof in court. Many European countries have already shifted to a consent-based definition of rape, including Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The Finnish bill is set to enter into force at the beginning of 2023.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT