NCJ Number
136447
Editor(s)
L Dolmen
Date Published
1990
Length
129 pages
Annotation
This report analyses Sweden's crime data from 1950 to 1980 and describes trends within various crime types including violent crimes, sexual offenses, and robbery.
Abstract
Data was obtained from police reports and included both cleared and uncleared crimes. The use of police figures has been disputed since they reflected recorded crime levels and not the actual amount of crimes committed. Trends indicated a relatively stable increase in crime during the course of the study with the 1988 crime level slightly more than four times that of the 1950 level. Violent crimes including homicide, manslaughter, and assaults showed an increase of 8 percent from 1987 with 90 percent of these offenses categorized as simple assaults. In 1988, all subcategories of reported sexual offenses continued to increase with a significant increase in sexual crimes of children under 15 years of age. Since the beginning of the 1950's, rape has grown consistently, and, compared to 1987, 1988 showed an increase of 20 percent reported rapes. Robbery has grown significantly compared to other offenses with an increase rate of more than 20 times from 1950 to 1988. Statistics on burglary, car theft, narcotics, and crimes inflicting damage are included as well as an overview of criminological terms and a translation of the relevant sections of the Penal Code and Narcotic Drugs Act. Graphs, 12 tables, 49 references, and 2 appendixes