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

NSfK´s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998
Anna Kristín Newton, under graduate student, dep. of psychology, University of Iceland
Private adress: Grjótagötu 12
IS-101 Reykjavik
e-mail: alans@vortex.is
and
Íris Böðvarsdóttir, under graduate student, dep. of psychology, University of Iceland
Private adress: Smárahlið 14g
IS-603 Akureyri
e-mail: iris@ak.is
Research Results of Sexual and Violent Offenders in Iceland
This paper is part of a BA thesis at the Department of Psychology, University of Iceland. The purpose
of the study was to explore various crime patterns in sexual and violent offenders in Iceland.
Violent and sexual crimes were studied as these are considered to cause significant mental and bodily
harm in victims (Kendall and Hammen, 1995).
When questioned about the type of crime most feared, the general public frequently identify violent
and sexual crimes, while the physical damage and the mental anguish of being a victim are identified
as the main aspects of the crime most feared. Those who have been a victim of any type of
crime more often than not fear that they will be attacked again (Viogt, Thornton, Barrile and Seaman,
1994).
According to Pollock and Rosenblat approximately 40% of the American public are afraid of becoming
a victim of a serious crime, where serious crimes include murder, violent assaults and sexual
offences (Beirne and Messerschmitt, 1995).
Of the various factors that have been associated with criminal behaviour, alcohol is probably one of
the main ones and the most frequently mentioned. Therefore in this study the connection between
alcohol and crime has been considered closely. This was done by studying how many offenders
were intoxicated when the crime took place. Consideration was also given to the time of day at
which the crime was committed. This was done on the basis that most crimes are committed at times
when people are more likely than not to have been drinking. We were also interested in the
relationship between the offender and the victim, specifically if the offender and victim knew each
other before the crime took place.
When considering crime in general and how it comes about, situational factors are nearly always
mentioned, that is the situation has to be right so that the offender has the chance to commit the
crime. With this in mind we thought that by looking at some of the situational factors that are present
when the crime took place we might get a clearer picture of how the crime came about.
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