Sweden: Bill on stricter approach to sexual violations, fraud against the elderly, and crimes with gender as a hate crime motive enters into force (Bill 2024/25:124)

On 1 July 2025, the Bill on stricter approach to sexual violations, fraud against the elderly, and crimes with gender as a hate crime motive enters into force. The Bill expands the criminalisation of purchasing sexual services to include remote and digital acts. It also broadens the definition of child sexual abuse to cover situations where the victim has an impaired ability to protect themselves. It further introduces gender as a basis for sentence enhancement in hate crime cases and reclassifies more forms of fraud as aggravated when committed systematically or by exploiting a victim’s vulnerability.