It's generally not illegal to have sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old in Sweden

Is it illegal to have sexual intercourse with a 17 and a half years old girl (she will be 18 in 5 months) when I'm 26 years old (turned 26 1 month ago) with her full consent in Sweden?

Lawline svarar

Hello, and thank you for consulting Lawline!

The answer to your question is simply: No.

The age of consent in Sweden is 15. It's specified in the first paragraph in 6:4 Brottsbalken (the Swedish Penal Code) that a person who has sexual intercourse with a child under fifteen years of age (or who with such a child carries out another sexual act that, having regard to the nature of the violation and the cirumstances in general, is comparable to sexual intercourse) shall be sentenced for rape of a child to imprisonment for at least two and at most six years.

However, in one situation the age of consent is raised to 18. That situation is specified in the second paragraph of the section mentioned above and reads as follows. "The same applies to the person who carries out an act referred to in the first paragraph to a child more than fifteen years of age but less than eighteen years of age and who is offspring to the perpetrator or in the perpetrator's care or in a similar relationship to the perpetrator, or for whose care of guardianship the perpetrator is responsible due to the decision of a government agency."

Therefore, as long as you and the 17-year-old girl both consented to have sexual intercourse with each other and you are not in a position of trust to the 17-year-old girl, nothing illegal has occurred.

Hope that answers your question!

Sincerely,

Fredrik RisingRådgivare
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