Capricious credibility – legal assessments of voluntariness in Swedish negligent rape judgements

Figures & data

Table 1. Analysed judgements

Judgement no.	Court	Outcome
1/A	District Court	Aquittal
2/A	District Court	Aquittal
3/A	District Court	Aquittal
4/G	District Court	Conviction
5/A	District Court	Aquittal
6/G	District Court	Conviction
7/G	District Court	Conviction
8/A	District Court	Aquittal
9/G	District Court	Conviction
10/G	District Court	Conviction
11/A	District Court	Aquittal
12/G	District Court	Conviction

Table 2. Analysis table

Judgement no.	Victim’s emotions		Defendant’s emotions		Rape myths
	Lexical level	Narrative level	Lexical level	Narrative level
1/A		Straight forward, Open, Blame			’Blaming the victim’ – Voluntarily intoxicated’ Belief that rapes only occur between strangers in public places’ – They knew each other, she had relations with other men
2/A	Panic, Fear, Anxiety	Blame	Sadness		’Blaming the victim’ – Voluntarily intoxicated
3/A	Fear Anxiety	Passivity, Blame, Shame	Anger, Fear, Sadness	’Nice guy’ Sympathy	’Blaming the victim’ – No resistance, participation’ Belief that rapes only occur between strangers in public areas’ – They knew each other
4/G	Fear Panic	Passivity
5/A	Fear Shock	Blame	Social Calm Unsuspectingly Sadness Anger	’Nice guy’ Sympathy	’Blaming the victim’- She liked the attention
6/G	Fear Anxiety Panic Shock Sadness	Fear Passivity Sympathy			’Belief that rapes only occur between strangers in public places’ – They knew each other, they have had sex before
7/G		Passivity	Sadness	Regretful ’Nice guy’ Sympathy	Challenge rape myth ‘Blaming the victim’ – Kissing isn’t consent for sex
8/A	Fear Shock Panic Sadness	Fear Antipathy	Chock Anger Calmness Surprised	Fear	’Blaming the victim’ – No resistance’ Doubt on allegation’ – Explaining victim’s reactions by other factors
9/G	Fear Panic Discomfort Shock Numbness		Joy Happiness
10/G	Fear Sadness Shock	Passivity Sympathy	Shame
11/A	Sadness	Fear			’Belief that rapes only occur between strangers in public places’ – They knew each other
12/G		Passivity Panic			Challenge rape myth ’Blaming the victim’. – Voluntarily intoxicated made her vulnerable

short-legendFigure 1.