OSLO, June 6 (Reuters) - Norway strengthened its rape laws on Friday by criminalising sex without explicit consent, joining a growing list of countries to widen the definition of sexual attacks. Up to now, prosecutors have had to show that an attacker used violence or threatening behaviour, or had sexual intercourse with someone who was unable to resist, to secure a conviction for rape.
Under the new law passed by parliament, anyone who has sex with someone who has not consented to it by word or deed could be convicted of rape, even without violence. Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland have all introduced consent-based rape laws in recent years. Sweden changed the legal definition of rape in 2018 to sex without consent - a change that officials said resulted in a 75% rise in rape convictions. Denmark followed in 2020 by passing a law that widened the circumstances that could constitute rape.
I’m not sure about that either. From what I read sex without consent was not necessarily a crime under the previous law, and that’s what they fixed?! I finally have to find some source and read what actually happened and what’s in the bill and not just some summary…
Edit: From reading a few news articles, I’d say consent wasn’t the deciding factor under previous law. So technically having sex without consent was fine. Unless there was something like coercion or violence involved. And likely there are quite some loopholes with that.
Oof. Then the old law was insane and this is a much greater correction than I thought.