SHORT REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE RESEARCH ON DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN NORWAY, SEPTEMBER 1973 (FROM CRIME AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, 1974 - SEE NCJ-43910)

• NCJ Number: 43907
• Author(s): T S DAHL
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 7 pages
• Corporate Author: Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: Russian; English
• Country: Sweden
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

RESEARCH TRENDS AT THE INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL LAW, UNIVERSITY OF OSLO, ARE SUMMARIZED.

Abstract

THE INSTITUTE WAS FOUNDED IN 1954 AND HAS CARRIED OUT MOST OF THE RESEARCH ON SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANCE AND CRIMINILOGY IN NORWAY. RESEARCH TRENDS AT THE TIME OF THE INSTITUTE'S FOUNDING INFLUENCED BY AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY; THE THEME OF THIS CRIMINAL SOCIOLOGY WAS TO SHOW THE SIMILARITIES RATHER THAN THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAWBREAKERS AND 'LAWOBEDIENT.' THIS TREND IN RESEARCH POINTED TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE SELECTION PROCESS WITHIN POLICE AND THE COURTS IN DEFINING CRIMINALS AND PRISONERS. FROM THE LATE 1950'S ON, THERE WAS A RISE OF CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF LAW, SHOWING THE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN DOGMATIC JURISPRUDENCE AND CRIMINAL LAW IN PRACTICE, AND FOCUSING ON THE PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN SERVING THE DOUBLE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT AND REHABILITATION. THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF PRISONS AND TREATMENT MEASURES IN REDUCING RECIDIVISM WAS POINTED OUT. CRIMINOLOGY IN THE EARLY 1960'S BECAME RATHER RADICAL AND CRITICAL OF THE SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL POLITICS, AND THE DISCIPLINE WAS NO LONGER SEEN AS MAINLY AN AUXILIARY DISCIPLINE TO CRIMINAL LAW. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN OFFICIALS AND TRADITIONAL LAWYERS ON ONE HAND AND RESEARCHERS ON THE OTHER HAS BEEN SOMEWHAT HARDENED BY THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CRIMINOLOGY AS A SEPARATE TEACHING DISCIPLINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO. ACADEMIC RESEARCH HAS COMBINED WITH THE VICTIMS OF THE SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL POLITICS TO CREATE SYSTEMATIC PRESSURE THROUGH THE FOUNDING OF THE NORWEGIAN MOVEMENT FOR PRISONERS' RIGHTS AND CRIMINAL REFORM AND A PRISONERS' TRADE UNION. THE IMPACT OF THESE TWO ORGANIZATIONS HAS BEEN STRONG, ESPECIALLY WITH REGARD TO OUTLINING PRISONERS' RIGHTS, TEARING DOWN SPECIAL MEASURES WITHIN CRIMINAL JUSTICE, AND NEUTRALIZING HARMFUL PROPOSALS FROM THE AUTHORITIES. THE INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGY INTENDS TO WIDEN THE OBJECT OF RESEARCH FROM THE INDIVIDUAL AND HIS INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM TO THE SYSTEM ITSELF, AND FROM THE ISOLATED SYSTEMS AND THEIR INHERENT PROBLEMS TO THE SYSTEMS' PLACE IN THE LARGER SOCIETY. RESEARCH ON POLICE FOCUSES ON THE ORIGIN OF MODERN POLICE FORCES, PARTICIPATION OF THE POLICE IN POLITICAL CONFLICTS, ITS FUNCTIONING IN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE, AND ITS IMPACT ON LOCAL ENVIRONMENT. OTHER SYSTEMS OF SOCIAL CONTROL ARE DEALT WITH IN THE SAME WAY; THE PROFESSION OF CRIMINOLOGY AND THE SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL LAW ARE TREATED FROM A MARXIST POINT OF VIEW. THERE IS ALSO A TREND TO MOVE OUT OF THE TRADITIONAL SECTOR OF CRIMINAL POLITICS IN ANOTHER WAY, BY FOCUSING ON ACTS THAT ARE AT LEAST AS INJURIOUS TO COMMON INTERESTS AS TRADITIONAL CRIME E.G., VIOLATIONS ON HOUSING RIGHTS -- PROFITMAKING, SPECULATION, AND OTHER ASOCIAL ACTS IN THE FIELD OF HOUSING -- AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES FOR THE VICTIMS.