CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Delinquent Behaviour in Nordic Capital Cities Janne Kivivuori Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Finland Local researchers in the Nordic area Denmark: Nanna Gabrielsen University of Copenhagen Finland: Janne Kivivuori and Venla Salmi National Research Institute of Legal Policy1 Iceland: Jón Sigfússon Reykjavik University Norway: Nina Jon and Stian Lid University of Oslo Sweden: Jonas Ring and Lina Andersson University of Stockholm 1 The Finnish data collection was conducted in cooperation with The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI). Special thanks to Kauko Aromaa. CONTENTS Foreword 1 FIFTY YEARS OF NORDIC SELF-REPORT RESEARCH...........................1 Self-reported delinquency in Nordic capitals during early 1960s .....................2 Small-scale studies in Oslo, Uppsala and Gothenburg, 1959–1962..............................2 Nordic Draftee Research (NDR) Project, 1961–1964 ................................................3 A “failed project”? .............................................................................................3 Meaningful pattern, after all? ...............................................................................4 Possible interpretation......................................................................................6 Subsequent developments in Nordic self-report research..................................8 From centre-stage to margin.................................................................................8 Re-emergence in the 1990s .................................................................................10 The Nordic society...........................................................................................11 Similar societies ...............................................................................................12 Low repression and unity of laws.........................................................................12 Socially embedded crime prevention ....................................................................13 Recent comparative studies of Nordic youth...................................................14 2 SELF-REPORT METHOD IN CRIMINOLOGY...........................................17 Psychological foundations of self-report crime research.................................18 Autobiographical memory ..................................................................................18 Differential salience of events .............................................................................18 Function of confession.......................................................................................19 Reliability.........................................................................................................20 Validity.............................................................................................................20 Content validity ................................................................................................20 Construct validity ...........................................................................................21 Criterion validity ..............................................................................................22 The problem of over-reporting and jokesters .........................................................26 Cultural feasibility of the method.........................................................................27 Criticism of “School Criminology” .................................................................32 3 DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR IN NORDIC CAPITALS..............................35 Data and principles of description ...................................................................35 Research location .............................................................................................35 Sample and response rate...................................................................................36 Data collection.................................................................................................38 Age composition ...............................................................................................38 Descriptives and tests ........................................................................................39 The problem of incidence estimates......................................................................40 Report focus.....................................................................................................42 Substance use ...................................................................................................43 Prevalence of substance use ...............................................................................43 Additional data sources on substance use..............................................................45 Prevalence of substance use by grade...................................................................46 Prevalence of substance use by sex ......................................................................49 Incidence of substance use among users ...............................................................49 Summary .........................................................................................................50 Theft.................................................................................................................51 Prevalence of theft ............................................................................................51 Prevalence of theft by grade ...............................................................................54 Theft participation by sex ...................................................................................55 Incidence of theft among offenders.......................................................................56 Summary .........................................................................................................57 Violence ...........................................................................................................57 Prevalence of violence related offences ................................................................58 Prevalence of violence by grade ..........................................................................60 Violent behaviour by gender ...............................................................................62 Incidence of violence among offenders .................................................................62 Summary .........................................................................................................63 Other offences..................................................................................................63 Prevalence of property destruction, hacking and drug selling...................................64 Other offences by grade .....................................................................................64 Other offences by gender....................................................................................65 Incidence of property destruction, hacking and drug selling among offenders .............66 Summary .........................................................................................................66 General patterns ...............................................................................................66 Gender structure of delinquency..........................................................................67 General offending intensity.................................................................................68 General delinquency patterns?............................................................................71 Age of delinquency onset.................................................................................73 Methodological limitations .................................................................................73 Age of onset as reported by seventh graders ..........................................................73 Age of onset as reported by ninth graders .............................................................76 Summary .........................................................................................................77 Police contact ...................................................................................................77 Adolescents with police contact...........................................................................78 Police contact likelihood in Nordic capitals...........................................................79 Police contact likelihood in Reykjavik ..................................................................81 Police contact and offence intensity .....................................................................82 Summary .........................................................................................................83 Summary of core findings................................................................................83 Prevalence.......................................................................................................84 Incidence.........................................................................................................85 Patterns ..........................................................................................................85