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Näthat är en fråga som kommit att aktualiseras alltmer under senare år. En av de rättsliga frågor som är väsentlig att belysa gällande näthat är hur det rättsliga ansvaret för att hantera och avlägsna näthat kan se ut. I artikeln kommer inledningsvis fokus att ligga på den övergripande frågan om avlägsnande av kommentarer i kommentarsfält i förhållande till yttrandefrihet och värnandet om den enskildes personliga integritet utifrån bestämmelserna i Europeiska konventionen om skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna och de grundläggande friheterna (Europakonventionen). Därefter diskuteras svensk lagstiftning som reglerar frågor om ansvar att avlägsna kränkande innehåll på forum och liknande. Avslutningsvis analyseras frågan om den enskildes rätt att begära att uppgifter avlägsnas. Denna bredd i artikeln är nödvändig för att visa på att skyldigheterna och möjligheterna att avlägsna material kraftigt varierar beroende på sammanhanget då det framförs och på själva innehållet i materialet som sådant. 

In recent decades the Swedish legislature has increasingly focused on the treatment of victims of crime and the information they receive. Victimology research has also shown the importance of treating victims with respect and of keeping them informed of their rights and the progress of their case throughout the process. The requirements thus set have to be met by all judicial actors, which presuppose a level of cooperation among them. Cooperation therefore constitutes one way of meeting victims' needs. In the current study these three factors; information, good treatment and cooperation, are referred to as victims’ rights.

          Studies have shown that victims experience shortcomings in the legal process regarding information and treatment. The causes of these shortcomings can be multiple, but from a legal point of view, however, the issue raises the question of whether there may be potential legal difficulties involved in incorporating adequate information and good treatment of crime victims into the judicial process. The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyse victims’ rights in the judicial process. As they are not without a legal context, these victims’ rights are analysed in relation to other legislation, principles and requirements that govern the functions of the judicial system, such as the duty of the police, prosecutors and courts to act objectively, conduct their work independently, and run an efficient legal process. The main question is whether the incorporation of victims’ rights conflicts with other rules and legal principles.   

     The study concludes, inter alia, that victims’ rights concerning the treatment of victims and coordination of the work with victims is vaguely regulated and the intended meaning of the requirements are not clear, which may lead to problems when these requirements are incorporated into the justice system. Regarding information, treatment of victims and coordination and cooperation, little guidance is given about how to incorporate this at the local level. Informational requirements are expressed more clearly in the legislation, but how and to what extent information to victims should be given can still be a matter of interpretation on the part of the actors. The existence of local differences is therefore likely, which can affect the actual support that individual victims gain access to. The legislature could choose to further clarify and elaborate upon how victims’ rights issues relate to other aspects of the judicial process, how priorities or balancing of interests should be handled as well as to reveal the underlying motives for such considerations. Such clarification could possibly increase the consistency of the incorporation of victims’ rights, and transform abstract goals into concrete actions.

Public and private organizations are increasingly implementing various algorithmic decision-making systems. Through legal and practical incentives, humans will often need to be kept in the loop of such decision-making to maintain human agency and accountability, provide legal safeguards, or perform quality control. Introducing such human oversight results in various forms of semi-automated, or hybrid decision-making – where algorithmic and human agents interact. Building on previous research we illustrate the legal dependencies forming an impetus for hybrid decision-making in the policing, social welfare, and online moderation contexts. We highlight the further need to situate hybrid decision-making in a wider legal environment of data protection, constitutional and administrative legal principles, as well as the need for contextual analysis of such principles. Finally, we outline a research agenda to capture contextual legal dependencies of hybrid decision-making, pointing to the need to go beyond legal doctrinal studies by adopting socio-technical perspectives and empirical studies.

This article draws on material gathered from Swedish tweets about the Roma population, in order to map different discourses. Based on this material, a legal analysis was made focusing on how the legal protection under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Swedish law for such types of expression may vary depending on the wider discursive context. This article concludes that the legal protection for hateful expressions against for instance Roma, will vary depending on the discursive context. When the expression is a direct part of a political discussion, the protection of freedom of expression will be higher. However, emphasis must also be placed on the aim, value, and accuracy of the statement, even in a political context. This will increase the possibilities to legally intervene against speech that may perhaps be triggered by an ongoing political debate, but is hateful and without value to that debate.

This article analyses the issue of online antagonism (defined as antagonistic harassment, defamation, insults and threats online) and the positive obligations of states to counter such antagonism under the European Convention on Human Rights, from a legal and victimological perspective. The article illustrates how the necessary balancing between positive obligations to protect privacy under article 8, and the protection of freedom of speech under article 10, will result in different levels of protection depending on the victim and the type of victimisation in question. This may affect the possibilities for individual victims to gain legal redress, specifically access to the criminal justice system. By comparisons to the current Swedish legislative context, the article highlights some avenues for legislatures to enhance protection for certain groups without interfering with article 10. It also concludes that a failure to protect victims of online antagonism through criminal law may ipso facto weaken the foundations of public discourse that article 10 is supposed to protect, which should be taken into account in a balancing of the rights in question. 

This article takes its starting point in Sami and Roma exposure to racism by studying preconditions within the criminal law for dealing with racism against individual victims of crime. The purpose is to identify whether and how individual victims can obtain remedy and reparation when exposed to racism. In this article, that means that the racist act must be criminalized, that the criminal interest of crim- inalization is the individual victim, and that the racist nature of the crime has legal implications for classification, sentencing and pun- ishment. Methodologically, the study focuses on identifying possible challenges in the application of so-called hate crimes legislation. Two challenges to the application of individual remedies and reparations were identified. First is the difficulty in identifying and establishing (racist) motive. Second is the lack of clear statements from the courts about how assessments have been made in the use of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in sentencing, and if or how they have affected sentencing and punishment. The results of this study show that the legal conditions for individual victims to obtain criminal justice when they have been subjected to racism are insufficient. Problems are primarily due to deficiencies in the formulation of the legislation, but are also seen in its application. Despite a strong contemporary political focus on work to combat racism, no legal changes have been proposed. Based on the results of this study, we suggest the appli- cation of a holistic approach to the legislation on hate crimes. This would enable individual redress for the racism to which Sami and Roma, among others, are exposed.