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> Sweden top of Europe for rape When that right-wing trope went around a few years ago, I learned that it was a deliberate misreading of the numbers. See https

> Sweden top of Europe for rape When that right-wing trope went around a few years ago, I learned that it was a deliberate misreading of the numbers. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden . Some of the key points are: If a women says her husband raped her every day for a month, how is that entered in the statistics? In the US until about 50 years ago there was a "marital exemption" that allowed a husband to rape his wife, so the answer would have been 0. In some jurisdictions it's counted as one rape report. In Sweden it's counted as about 30 rapes. (That was an eye-opener to mean when I learned about it.) Furthermore, Sweden's definition of "rape" is broader, and includes interactions which in many other countries would not be considered a rape. Next, Sweden tallies rapes when reported, while in some countries they are tallied when prosecuted, which lowers the effective rape rate. Additionally, rape victims are more likely to report the crime when they have respect and trust in the police, and when rape isn't treated as something to shame the victim about. This is the case in Sweden, so rape appears to be reported at a higher rate than many other countries. The Wikipedia page lists more reasons why a cross-national comparison like "rape capital" is difficult to make.

ALittleLight 4y ago
I see this kind of "talking point" a lot when talking about crime in Sweden. But, if you actually think about it a bit, it doesn't make any sense. For example, your point about how "If a husband rapes his wife daily for a month" counts as 30 rapes - first, which jurisdictions in Europe would consolidate 30 rapes into a single rape count? Second, do you have any reason to think that the daily rape of wives by their husbands drives the high rape count in Sweden? I'm trying to imagine what you think is going on - the wife drops in to the police station to say "Hello, for the past thirty days my husband has been raping me" and the officer says "Okay, we'll mark down a 'one rape' on our books here." It's also an obvious rhetorical trick to compare present day rapes in Sweden to archaic laws that existed in the US until ~50 years ago. Why would you do that except to obfuscate? It's also disingenuous to talk about how Sweden's rape definition is broader. Do you know that? Have you reviewed rape definitions throughout all of Europe, or are you just repeating what Sweden's crime council says? If you took Sweden's rape definition and applied to every other country, or any standard rape definition and applied it to every country, how would Sweden rank. Have you done that? Or... When I write that Sweden is a regional leader in rape, what I mean is that Sweden's numbers, Sweden's rape stats, are higher than the numbers reported by every country in Europe. That's not perfect, and I agree that "rape capital" claims are complicated to evaluate - but it is first, true, and second an objective comparison (reported figures to reported figures). What you mean when you say this is a "right-wing trope" and a "deliberate misreading" is that there might exist measures, which you haven't shared or which are highly contrived, by which Sweden's rape rate is only in the top third or so of Europe. You write that "rape victims are more likely to report the crime when they have respect and trust in the police" but this is just more misleading "Maybe this" type of stuff. Do Swedish women trust the police more than the women of other countries in Europe? Have you ever looked into that? Swedish police have extremely low clearance rates for rape - why would Swedish women have special trust in them?
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  > t's also disingenuous to talk about how Sweden's rape definition is broader. Do you know that? Have you reviewed rape definitions throughout all of Europe, or are you just repeating what Sweden's crime council says? Appendix 1 of the 90 page document I linked has exactly this information. They also discuss it in detail, with citations of sources: > Eurostat’s definition of rape is broad: there is no need for force to be involved for the sexual act to be defined as rape, only a lack of valid consent. However, many countries lack the prerequisites for specifying how many such rapes are reported, as they have a narrower definition of rape in their national legislation. According to an analysis by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) from 2016, only seven countries in Europe had consent-based legislation. However, most countries did have various forms of exception to the need for the use of force, such as a victim who was sleeping or heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident. In one third of the countries analysed, some form of violence or threat was required for the act to be classified as rape. The European countries also differed in terms of the sexual acts included under rape in their national legislation. In 17 of the 30 countries encompassed by the study, only sexual intercourse was included in the definition of rape
  - ALittleLight 4y ago
    So - you are just repeating what the Swedish crime council says? Let's look at the Appendix you cite. They have 4 sections and 5 big paragraphs of text explaining Sweden's rape definition. Then, they have a table giving rape definitions in other countries. First on the list is Belgium - a measly couple of sentences. Sweden's law covers threats of violence, sex acts that aren't penetration, unlawful coercion, and statutory rape. By contrast, Belgium's couple of sentences just cover sexual penetration without consent. Yes, Sweden's law definitely seems broader than Belgium's. But wait! If you go to wikipedia "Rape in Belgium" and click on the source for their definition, you can see the Belgium Penal code[1]. If you translate from French to English (let it load) and ctrl+f for "rape" you can find that sure enough Belgium penal code has rape definitions for unlawfully obtaining consent, non-penetrative sex acts, and statutory rape. So, tell me how is Sweden's definition of rape broader than Belgium's? In my opinion, if the government bureaucrats in charge of preventing crime are explaining to you that the super-high rape rate isn't a problem and is actually a right-wing conspiracy - that deserves a bit more skepticism than just uncritically repeating the summary they give. 1 - http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/loi_a1.pl?DETAIL=1867060801%2FF&caller=list&row_id=1&numero=2&rech=4&cn=1867060801&table_name=LOI&nm=1867060850&la=F&dt=CODE+PENAL&language=fr&fr=f&choix1=ET&choix2=ET&fromtab=loi_all&trier=promulgation&chercher=t&sql=dt+contains++%27CODE%27%26+%27PENAL%27and+actif+%3D+%27Y%27&tri=dd+AS+RANK+&imgcn.x=41&imgcn.y=12#LNK0111 http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/loi_a1.pl?DETAIL=18...

ALittleLight 4y ago

I see this kind of "talking point" a lot when talking about crime in Sweden. But, if you actually think about it a bit, it doesn't make any sense. For example, your point about how "If a husband rapes his wife daily for a month" counts as 30 rapes - first, which jurisdictions in Europe would consolidate 30 rapes into a single rape count? Second, do you have any reason to think that the daily rape of wives by their husbands drives the high rape count in Sweden? I'm trying to imagine what you think is going on - the wife drops in to the police station to say "Hello, for the past thirty days my husband has been raping me" and the officer says "Okay, we'll mark down a 'one rape' on our books here." It's also an obvious rhetorical trick to compare present day rapes in Sweden to archaic laws that existed in the US until ~50 years ago. Why would you do that except to obfuscate? It's also disingenuous to talk about how Sweden's rape definition is broader. Do you know that? Have you reviewed rape definitions throughout all of Europe, or are you just repeating what Sweden's crime council says? If you took Sweden's rape definition and applied to every other country, or any standard rape definition and applied it to every country, how would Sweden rank. Have you done that? Or... When I write that Sweden is a regional leader in rape, what I mean is that Sweden's numbers, Sweden's rape stats, are higher than the numbers reported by every country in Europe. That's not perfect, and I agree that "rape capital" claims are complicated to evaluate - but it is first, true, and second an objective comparison (reported figures to reported figures). What you mean when you say this is a "right-wing trope" and a "deliberate misreading" is that there might exist measures, which you haven't shared or which are highly contrived, by which Sweden's rape rate is only in the top third or so of Europe. You write that "rape victims are more likely to report the crime when they have respect and trust in the police" but this is just more misleading "Maybe this" type of stuff. Do Swedish women trust the police more than the women of other countries in Europe? Have you ever looked into that? Swedish police have extremely low clearance rates for rape - why would Swedish women have special trust in them?

ZeroGravitas 4y ago
> t's also disingenuous to talk about how Sweden's rape definition is broader. Do you know that? Have you reviewed rape definitions throughout all of Europe, or are you just repeating what Sweden's crime council says? Appendix 1 of the 90 page document I linked has exactly this information. They also discuss it in detail, with citations of sources: > Eurostat’s definition of rape is broad: there is no need for force to be involved for the sexual act to be defined as rape, only a lack of valid consent. However, many countries lack the prerequisites for specifying how many such rapes are reported, as they have a narrower definition of rape in their national legislation. According to an analysis by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) from 2016, only seven countries in Europe had consent-based legislation. However, most countries did have various forms of exception to the need for the use of force, such as a victim who was sleeping or heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident. In one third of the countries analysed, some form of violence or threat was required for the act to be classified as rape. The European countries also differed in terms of the sexual acts included under rape in their national legislation. In 17 of the 30 countries encompassed by the study, only sexual intercourse was included in the definition of rape
- ALittleLight 4y ago
  So - you are just repeating what the Swedish crime council says? Let's look at the Appendix you cite. They have 4 sections and 5 big paragraphs of text explaining Sweden's rape definition. Then, they have a table giving rape definitions in other countries. First on the list is Belgium - a measly couple of sentences. Sweden's law covers threats of violence, sex acts that aren't penetration, unlawful coercion, and statutory rape. By contrast, Belgium's couple of sentences just cover sexual penetration without consent. Yes, Sweden's law definitely seems broader than Belgium's. But wait! If you go to wikipedia "Rape in Belgium" and click on the source for their definition, you can see the Belgium Penal code[1]. If you translate from French to English (let it load) and ctrl+f for "rape" you can find that sure enough Belgium penal code has rape definitions for unlawfully obtaining consent, non-penetrative sex acts, and statutory rape. So, tell me how is Sweden's definition of rape broader than Belgium's? In my opinion, if the government bureaucrats in charge of preventing crime are explaining to you that the super-high rape rate isn't a problem and is actually a right-wing conspiracy - that deserves a bit more skepticism than just uncritically repeating the summary they give. 1 - http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/loi_a1.pl?DETAIL=1867060801%2FF&caller=list&row_id=1&numero=2&rech=4&cn=1867060801&table_name=LOI&nm=1867060850&la=F&dt=CODE+PENAL&language=fr&fr=f&choix1=ET&choix2=ET&fromtab=loi_all&trier=promulgation&chercher=t&sql=dt+contains++%27CODE%27%26+%27PENAL%27and+actif+%3D+%27Y%27&tri=dd+AS+RANK+&imgcn.x=41&imgcn.y=12#LNK0111 http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/loi_a1.pl?DETAIL=18...