Blog
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Turns, waves or layers? Swedish criminal policy and the use of knowledge 1860–2024
By Johan Edman Because there are always experts who are against almost every change, but we can’t have it like that anymore in Sweden. If there is to be a change, changes must be implemented (Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on why the government chose to go against the experts who in a public inquiry (SOU…
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Narrating the Past, Shaping the Present: Military Officers’ Perspectives on Public Security
By Sine Vorland Holen The ongoing war in Ukraine is a stark reminder that armed conflicts in today’s world often unfold among civilian populations. This raises important questions about the role of the military in securing the public in our societies. How military officers’ story and narrate historical events can tell us a great deal…
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Restorative justice as alternative punishment: It’s about being tough on crime in a constructive way
By Christian Gade One of the first things one often “learns” when delving into the literature on restorative justice (victim-offender mediations, restorative justice conferences, circles, etc.) is that it is something radically different from punishment. At the NSfK Research Seminar 2023, I argued two things that contradict with this view. First, that the idea of…
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5-star hotel, with terrible room service? A digital criminology of prisons featured in Google Maps’ reviews
By Maja Vestad, Rose E. Boyle and Marina Hiller Foshaugen There is great power inherent in consumers’ online reviews of establishments, activities and facilities: positive reviews inspire further custom and can affect how commercial actors are ranked by algorithms and search engines, whereas poor reviews keep would-be visitors away. Online reviewing on Google is largely…
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State Compensation and Gender Equality
By Hildur Fjóla Antonsdóttir State compensation schemes for victims of crime are based on the idea that the state has a duty to protect its citizens from crime, and awards compensation as recognition of a sense of public sympathy and social solidarity with victims. While the law is gender neutral, its application reveals a gendered…
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Why has crime become a prevalent social problem in both Chile and Sweden?
By Felipe Estrada I was recently in Chile as a visiting professor and was expecting to find a different conversation on crime and punishment than the Swedish one. The reason for my optimism was the rapid social changes that had occurred during and after the massive social protests in 2019-2020. One of the political consequences…
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Mental Illness, Crime, and Social Control in Finland
By Fred Markowitz The vast majority of persons with a mental illness are not dangerous, yet may be stigmatized by the public due to perceptions of danger. However, studies in several countries have shown the risk of violence and criminal offending is elevated among those with certain mental illnesses, especially when combined with substance abuse. …
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Invisible victims of Nordic nightlife: A Danish case
By Margit Anne Petersen, Geoffrey Hunt and Alexandra Bogren Nordic concerns about sexual victimization have recently become more prominent, fueled by the #MeToo movement, and EU surveys highlighting high prevalence rates of sexual harassment and assault in Scandinavia. While rape is given greater priority by criminal justice authorities, victims of “less serious” incidences find themselves…
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Discretion and net-widening – early intervention and forecasting youth crime
By Helene O. I. Gundhus and Pernille Erichsen Skjevrak The Norwegian Police are bringing risk assessment tools into use to identify young people who are the ‘most suitable candidates’ for crime prevention. Drawing on field studies, we analyse to what degree these practices are expanding and sharpening surveillance. How much do risk assessment technologies increase…
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Do we really need spatial crime analysis in Norway?
By Annica Allvin Research on spatial crime patterns have grown greatly and an increasing number of police forces worldwide have invested in geographical information systems (GIS) and different tools to predict future criminal activity. As society keeps getting more digitalized, Norwegian policymakers too have shown an increasing interest for new technological solutions that can enhance…