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The Swedish Prostitution Policy in Context

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Dual Markets

Abstract

The Swedish Sex Purchase Act has sparked considerable interest and debate internationally since it was introduced in 1999. This chapter describes and contextualizes the political process preceding the introduction of the Swedish Sex Purchase Act. We then describe its implementation and existing knowledge and assessments of its consequences. One key point is that analyses of legislation in the field of prostitution must consider the relationship between the expressed intentions of the law, the formulation of the law, and how the law is implemented. Legal measures are taken based on specific agendas, but their symbolic value and implications are transformed by the way in which the criminal law interacts with other policy domains. With the Swedish Sex Purchase Act, there has been an interaction between the feminist abolitionist agenda, which was the original basis for the policy, and other agendas. Laws are not made once and for all but are continually revised and readily appropriated by new aims, agendas, and actors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Swedish Aliens Act (2005/716), Chap. 8, Sect. 3:2.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Charlotta Holmström

  2. Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    May-Len Skilbrei

Authors
  1. Charlotta Holmström
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  2. May-Len Skilbrei
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Correspondence to Charlotta Holmström .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Transcrime, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Ernesto U. Savona

  2. Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University, New York, New York, USA

    Mark A.R. Kleiman

  3. Transcrime, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy

    Francesco Calderoni

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Holmström, C., Skilbrei, ML. (2017). The Swedish Prostitution Policy in Context. In: Savona, E., Kleiman, M., Calderoni, F. (eds) Dual Markets. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65361-7_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65361-7_23

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