The crimes in the psychosocial work environment : A study about the criminal liability when it come to inadequacies in the work environment

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the nature of the work environment crime and how the principles of criminal law applies in psychosocial contexts. The principles are based on the general law of criminal procedure which requires a culprit, a crime, and a victim. The situation is rarely that simple when it comes to crimes in the work environment, which obstructs the confirming of penalization in organizations. The prerequisites within criminal law, put up demands on adequate causality, carelessness or intention, and the act must have caused the effect. The requirement for adequate causality and the direct cause of the effect is hard to determine when it comes to work environment crimes of a psychosocial nature. Work-related injuries which is caused by mental illness, often develop over a longer period, which obstructs the investigation of work environment crime. The complexity behind psychosocial health does not only lie in the work environment crime as such, it also tends to affect women to a greater extent than men. This circumstance is said to be the result of more women working in the health and care area of the public sector, which is highly affected by poorer working conditions because of unequal structures in society