Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 Hedda Giertsen, Assistant Professor Department of Criminology, University of Oslo PB 6872, St. Olavs Plass, N-0130 Oslo e-mail: hedda.giertsen@jus.uio.no 106 Crime trends and trends in the criminal policy in Norway 1 To talk about crime trends is also to talk about trends in criminal policy. Crime statistics tell about the number of acts which have been reported to the police, accepted by the prosecution authorities as crimes, and dealt with by courts and prison authorities. It is old knowledge that crime statistics actually give us statistics on the capacity of the different parts of the control apparatus. The latest published statistics on the police, the courts and prison activities are from 1995. More recent figures can be found in other sources such as state budgets from the last years; a document called Stortingsmelding no. 27 (1997-98) written by The Ministry of Law and delivered to Stortinget (the parliament), and from information from the police reported in the media. All these kinds of sources are used in this paper. In the following I will discuss two main topics: 1) The first is about figures, trends - and discussions connected to some of these figures. 2) The second is about recent trends in crime politics in Norway. 1) Figures I will first present some figures, which I assume is expected of me: The number of reported offences in 1995 were 400600 (SSB 95, table 1). Of these, 286000 were classified as crimes, showing an increase compared to the previous years. In Norway another category, 'crimes investigated by the police' is more often used. In 1995 270000 crimes were investigated by the police (SSB 1995, t. 4). This figure represents an increase from previous years, an increase which can also be traced in the number of investigated crimes pr 1000 inhabitants from 1960 to 1995: 1960: 10.8 1970: 16.8 1980: 29.8 1990: 55.4 1995: 61.6 (SSB 95, t. 4) Of the 270000 crimes in 1995: 69.3 % were classified as theft; 4.3 % were classified as violence against person (of these 32 were classified as murders)2 (SSB 95, t. 5) 1 A somewhat extended version of the paper given on the 22nd. of May 1998. Many thanks to Ragnhild Hennum, Heidi Mork Lomell and Rachel Paul for all their comments and help to make this paper correct and readable. 2 From 1991 to 1995 the numbers of reported murders were: 38; 50; 47; 46; 32.
NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 But instead of giving rows of figures, I will concentrate on some discussions which stem from changes in figures of some kinds of reported crimes - even though these crimes do not take any dominant position among the figures. Some present of the concerns, arguments, proposals and measures will be presented. Of course I can only deal with some of the topics that have been discussed. Other discussions could also have been presented. As a general comment to the discussions, one can say: Serious concerns are expressed when reported numbers go up; and when they go down. i) concerns when numbers go up One example: The numbers on reported violence (acts classified as 'crime of violence against the person') show an increase from 8300 in 1991 to 11600 in 1995 (SSB 95, t. 5). Also in the first quarter of 1998 there has been an increase in the number of reported violent crimes compared to the same period in 1997. The highest increase in absolute numbers was found for 'assaults' which increased from 2200 to 2500, an increase by 13 %; while 'wounding or inflicting bodily harm' had the highest relative increase by 26 % (N = 582), when comparing the first 3 months of 1997 and 1998 (SSB 1998). These increases in crimes of violence is one of the reasons behind a suggestion from a majority in Stortinget, urging the courts to increase the sentences in cases of violent crimes. But this idea challenges the ideal of the independent court. So in the end most of the representatives found it sufficient to give a statement as a political signal in general, while a few wanted to make a statement directed to the courts. The number of murders also cause serious concerns. In recent years there has been no increase in reported murders (see fn 2). But there are other increases to be found. In a newspaper (Dagbladet 10.3.98) the police report on murders in 1997. This year 39 persons were murdered, and of these 14 by knife. In 1994 the numbers were respectively 6 out of 27. This increase in the reported use of knives has led to a suggestion from 'The Committee to consider Laws on Weapons'3 to increase punishments in criminal cases involving weapons. In 1993 a law was passed that criminalized possession of knives 'or other sharp tools' in public places (not if the purpose was respectable), with punishments of fine up to NOK 2000 or of imprisonment for up to 3 months. According to The Ministry of Law, 1002 persons have been reported to the police for possessing knives illegally in 1997. In 1997 146 persons were given ticket fines for possessing knives (Dagsavisen 10.3.98). The police are satisfied with the law which gives them an opportunity to stop and search people for knives (Dagbladet 10.3.98). In 1997, there were reported 7 cases of murders were firearms had been used.4 But even if these cases are few and less than the number of knives used in reported murders, there are concerns about firearms. This winter there have been reports in the media showing worries and concerns for young boys and men in Oslo, who according to the police and journalists, are between 20 and 35 years old, belong to two conflicting groups or gangs, and are often from immigrant 3 ‘Våpenlovutvalget’ 4 The firearms used were: shotgun (hagle) 2, revolver 0; rifle 1, pistol 4. 107
Page 1 and 2:
Organised Crime & Crime Prevention
Page 3 and 4:
Rådsmedlemmer: Flemming Balvig, Da
Page 5:
ISBN 87-987103-0-3
Page 8 and 9:
NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo,
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63: NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo,
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
NSfK´s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo,
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 222 and 223:
Page 224 and 225:
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 254 and 255:
Page 256 and 257:
Page 258 and 259:
Page 260 and 261:
Page 262 and 263:
Page 264 and 265:
Page 266 and 267:
Page 268 and 269:
Page 270 and 271:
Page 272:
show all

Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?