signatory
12-14-2005, 06:12 AM
The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet - Brå) functions as the Swedish Government’s body of expertise within the justice system.
This is a huge and a bit controversal study (at least among the P.C Media). First report in many years. Scroll down for my quick summary.
http://www.bra.se/extra/faq/?module_instance=2&action=question_show&id=340&category_id=9
English summary. + I had to cut it down even further not to bore people too much. Full doc only in Swedish.
Crime among persons born in Sweden and other countries
The study relates only to persons registered as resident in Sweden during the period in question, and not to persons who only stayed in Sweden on a temporary basis.
THE PICTURE PRESENTED IN PREVIOUS SWEDISH STUDIES
Previous Swedish studies on the criminality of immigrants have shown that persons born outside Sweden have higher levels of registered crime than persons born within the country. In the National Council’s study from the period 1985-1989, the findings showed that it was twice as common for
persons born abroad to be registered for criminal offences by comparison with persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. Persons born in Sweden to one or two foreign-born parents were also registered for crime more often than those with two Swedish born parents. For this group, it was 1.5 times as likely to be registered as crime suspects.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES HAVE PRODUCED RESULTS THAT DIFFER IN PART FROM THOSE FOUND IN SWEDEN
The majority of current international studies on registered crime, like their Swedish counterparts, show that persons born outside the country in ques-tion tend to be registered in connection with criminal offences to a greater extent than persons born within the country. There are a number of older, American studies, however, which show the opposite, namely that persons who have migrated to a new country tend to commit offences to a lesser extent than persons born within the country to two parents who were also born there. International studies have also focused special attention on crime among those born in the new country but to one or two parents born overseas. The general picture produced by these studies indicates that this group is regis-tered for crime to a greater extent than both those born overseas and those born within the country to two native born parents. When these results are interpreted, emphasis is often placed on the no-tion that some children born to non-native parents, who grow up in the new society, are torn between two cultural worlds. They often experience their situation and their future possibilities as more limited than others of the same age whose parents were born within the country, which may lead to their becoming frustrated and alienated
THE MAJORITY OF THOSE REGISTERED FOR CRIMES ARE PERSONS BORN IN SWEDEN TO SWEDISH BORN PARENTS
The National Council’s study includes all those persons aged between 15 and 51 years of age who were registered as resident in Sweden in 1997. This group comprises approximately 4.4 million individuals. Slightly under 60 per cent of the almost 1,520,000 offences for which these persons were registered during the period covered by the study can be attributed to per-sons who were born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. Almost one quarter of the crimes are registered to persons born overseas, and almost twenty per cent to persons born in Sweden to one or two parents born abroad. Using this as its point of departure, the National Council has attempted to estimate how the total number of reported offences is distributed across different groups. The picture then changes somewhat, primarily because those offences committed by persons not registered as resident in Sweden are also included. This group is estimated to account for seven per cent of the offences reported during the study period. This represents an increase from the figure of three per cent noted in the National Council’s previous study.
THOSE BORN ABROAD ARE REGISTERED FOR OFFENCES MORE OFTEN THAN PERSONS BORN IN SWEDEN
By far the majority of all those included in the groups examined in the study have not been suspected in connection with any offences during the five year study period. This is true irrespective of ethnic background. The proportions of the different groups not suspected of any offences at all var-ies between 88 and 95 per cent. The proportion suspected of offences is higher however among those born outside Sweden or who have one or two foreign-born parents, by comparison with those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. It is two and a half times as likely for persons born abroad to be registered as crime suspects as it is for Swedish born persons with both parents born in Sweden. They thus have a ”relative risk” of 2.5. For those born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents, it is twice as common to be registered as it is among persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. For this group, then, the ”relative risk” is 2. Among those with one Swedish born and one non-Swedish born parent, the risk is 1.4 times as great. Thus the pattern that emerged in the National Council’s previous report, namely that the risk of being registered for crime was lower among the Swedish born ”children of immigrants” than it was among those who had themselves migrated to Sweden, is also apparent in this new study.
RELATIVE RISK HIGHER FOR SOME OFFENCES THAN FOR OTHERS
If the material is broken down into different offence types, the proportion of suspects from each background group becomes appreciably smaller. The proportion of persons born abroad that are suspected in connection with a theft offence (Chapter 8 of the Swedish Penal Code – Brottsbalken), or a crime against the person (Chapter 3), which includes assault offences, lies at slightly over four per cent for each offence category over the course of the five year observation period. For other types of crime, the proportion of foreign-born persons in the population is lower. At the same time, it may be noted that the relative risk for being registered for crime among persons born overseas is greater for certain offences than it is for others. It is four times as likely, for example, for foreign-born persons to be suspected of lethal violence and robbery as it is for persons born in Sweden to Swedish born parents. This involves 0.03 per cent of persons born overseas being suspected in connection with lethal violence during the study period and 0.35 per cent being suspected of robbery.
”CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS” ARE MORE COMMONLY REGISTERED FOR TYPICAL YOUTH CRIMES
On the whole, those born in Sweden to at least one overseas born parent assume an ’in-between’ position as regards the question of being suspected of criminal offences. It is less common for members of this group to be suspected in connection with various types of crime than it is for those who were themselves born overseas, but it is more common than among persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. There are however certain types of offences that are more common within this group than they are in
either of the other two groups. These offence types primarily involve cate-gories of crime where a large proportion of the offences are generally com-mitted by youths (irrespective of background). These involve car thefts, vandalism, drunken driving, drug offences including offences that only in-volve personal consumption, and crimes against the Weapons Act (vapenla-gen) and the Knives Act (knivförbudslagen)
LEVELS OF OVER-REPRESENTATION GREATER AMONG GROUPS FROM CERTAIN AREAS OF THE WORLD THAN OTHERS
The proportion of persons suspected of offences is greater in groups from certain geographical areas than it is in those from others. This is the case for certain parts of Africa, such as North Africa, for example, and for Western Asia. Those coming from West European countries, South-East Asia and from the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zeeland comprise the groups of those born outside Sweden who are registered as crime suspects least often. The factor that distinguishes the areas whose emigrants are suspected of offences in Sweden to a particularly large extent is that the living conditions in these areas are unlike those in the western world. In addition, those moving to Sweden from these areas have often been ”forced” to leave their homelands as refugees, whereas those arriving from western countries most often come more of their own free will. The high level of relative risk noted among North Africans does not however mean that persons from North Africa are responsible for a large proportion of the offences that are linked to crime suspects in Sweden. On the contrary they account for a very small proportion of these offences. The groups that dominate in this regard are those from the Nordic countries.
Persons from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland account for almost five per cent of those suspected of offences, whereas the corresponding fig-ure for North Africans is 0.7 per cent. Amongst other things, of course, this is a result of the fact that the number of persons living in Sweden who were born in North Africa is not very large. The number of immigrants moving to Sweden from her Nordic neighbours is much larger.
IMMIGRATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CONSTITUTES A PROTECTIVE FACTOR AGAINST INVOLVEMENT IN CRIME
International research shows that persons born abroad who move to the new country of residence during their first years of life find it easier to adapt than those who arrive once they have reached school-age. The Na-tional Council’s study indicates that this general observation also holds in relation to criminal behaviour. Those who migrated to Sweden at a very young age, i.e. before starting school, are registered as suspected offenders to a relatively minor extent. Persons who were of school age, up to and including the late teenage years, when they arrived in Sweden, comprise the group whose members were most often registered in connection with crime
LEVELS OF RELATIVE RISK DIMINISH WHEN OTHER SOCIAL FACTORS ARE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION
We know from previous research that certain background factors, such as age and gender, covary with the risk for involvement in crime. Against this background, the National Council has subjected the material to a stan-dardisation procedure in relation to gender, age, level of education and occupational income. This standardisation means that the different groups have been ”equalised” in relation to these factors by means of statistical procedures. On the basis of these statistical calculations, all groups are as-signed the same proportions of men, younger persons etc. Once the material has been standardised in this way, the level of relative risk among those born abroad is reduced from 2.5 to 2.1. The size of the relative risk among those born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents also diminishes substan-tially from 2.0 to 1.5. One reason for this is that these groups contain a larger proportion of young men with low levels of educational attainment and income by comparison with those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. By contrast, the size of the relative risk is not affected to any appreciable extent among persons born in Sweden with only one parent born abroad. One explanation for this is that this group’s ”profile” in relation to the factors discussed is more similar to that of those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents.
A lot of blah blah, so I wrote down a few quick points from the study:
The over-representation among imigrants increase up to 300-400 % on crimes such as murder, assault, rape and violence against strangers.
Contrary to myth, the highest proportion of over-representation can not be found among the unemployed and factory workers (90%) but rather among employed people in the service sector (126%) Socioeconomic background doesn't affect the over-representation numbers at all.
Cultural background is clearly a strong factor, the absolute worst over-representation can be found among immigrants from Chile and North Africa's Maghre region while Asians have almost no over-representantion at all.
Middle-easterners have twice has high numbers as Vietnamese and Indians.
Busting the myth of racism as a factor the study confirm Africans from south of sahara and east africa commit fewer crimes than for example people of Chile.
Anyway.... it's a big freaking study.
This is a huge and a bit controversal study (at least among the P.C Media). First report in many years. Scroll down for my quick summary.
http://www.bra.se/extra/faq/?module_instance=2&action=question_show&id=340&category_id=9
English summary. + I had to cut it down even further not to bore people too much. Full doc only in Swedish.
Crime among persons born in Sweden and other countries
The study relates only to persons registered as resident in Sweden during the period in question, and not to persons who only stayed in Sweden on a temporary basis.
THE PICTURE PRESENTED IN PREVIOUS SWEDISH STUDIES
Previous Swedish studies on the criminality of immigrants have shown that persons born outside Sweden have higher levels of registered crime than persons born within the country. In the National Council’s study from the period 1985-1989, the findings showed that it was twice as common for
persons born abroad to be registered for criminal offences by comparison with persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. Persons born in Sweden to one or two foreign-born parents were also registered for crime more often than those with two Swedish born parents. For this group, it was 1.5 times as likely to be registered as crime suspects.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES HAVE PRODUCED RESULTS THAT DIFFER IN PART FROM THOSE FOUND IN SWEDEN
The majority of current international studies on registered crime, like their Swedish counterparts, show that persons born outside the country in ques-tion tend to be registered in connection with criminal offences to a greater extent than persons born within the country. There are a number of older, American studies, however, which show the opposite, namely that persons who have migrated to a new country tend to commit offences to a lesser extent than persons born within the country to two parents who were also born there. International studies have also focused special attention on crime among those born in the new country but to one or two parents born overseas. The general picture produced by these studies indicates that this group is regis-tered for crime to a greater extent than both those born overseas and those born within the country to two native born parents. When these results are interpreted, emphasis is often placed on the no-tion that some children born to non-native parents, who grow up in the new society, are torn between two cultural worlds. They often experience their situation and their future possibilities as more limited than others of the same age whose parents were born within the country, which may lead to their becoming frustrated and alienated
THE MAJORITY OF THOSE REGISTERED FOR CRIMES ARE PERSONS BORN IN SWEDEN TO SWEDISH BORN PARENTS
The National Council’s study includes all those persons aged between 15 and 51 years of age who were registered as resident in Sweden in 1997. This group comprises approximately 4.4 million individuals. Slightly under 60 per cent of the almost 1,520,000 offences for which these persons were registered during the period covered by the study can be attributed to per-sons who were born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. Almost one quarter of the crimes are registered to persons born overseas, and almost twenty per cent to persons born in Sweden to one or two parents born abroad. Using this as its point of departure, the National Council has attempted to estimate how the total number of reported offences is distributed across different groups. The picture then changes somewhat, primarily because those offences committed by persons not registered as resident in Sweden are also included. This group is estimated to account for seven per cent of the offences reported during the study period. This represents an increase from the figure of three per cent noted in the National Council’s previous study.
THOSE BORN ABROAD ARE REGISTERED FOR OFFENCES MORE OFTEN THAN PERSONS BORN IN SWEDEN
By far the majority of all those included in the groups examined in the study have not been suspected in connection with any offences during the five year study period. This is true irrespective of ethnic background. The proportions of the different groups not suspected of any offences at all var-ies between 88 and 95 per cent. The proportion suspected of offences is higher however among those born outside Sweden or who have one or two foreign-born parents, by comparison with those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. It is two and a half times as likely for persons born abroad to be registered as crime suspects as it is for Swedish born persons with both parents born in Sweden. They thus have a ”relative risk” of 2.5. For those born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents, it is twice as common to be registered as it is among persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. For this group, then, the ”relative risk” is 2. Among those with one Swedish born and one non-Swedish born parent, the risk is 1.4 times as great. Thus the pattern that emerged in the National Council’s previous report, namely that the risk of being registered for crime was lower among the Swedish born ”children of immigrants” than it was among those who had themselves migrated to Sweden, is also apparent in this new study.
RELATIVE RISK HIGHER FOR SOME OFFENCES THAN FOR OTHERS
If the material is broken down into different offence types, the proportion of suspects from each background group becomes appreciably smaller. The proportion of persons born abroad that are suspected in connection with a theft offence (Chapter 8 of the Swedish Penal Code – Brottsbalken), or a crime against the person (Chapter 3), which includes assault offences, lies at slightly over four per cent for each offence category over the course of the five year observation period. For other types of crime, the proportion of foreign-born persons in the population is lower. At the same time, it may be noted that the relative risk for being registered for crime among persons born overseas is greater for certain offences than it is for others. It is four times as likely, for example, for foreign-born persons to be suspected of lethal violence and robbery as it is for persons born in Sweden to Swedish born parents. This involves 0.03 per cent of persons born overseas being suspected in connection with lethal violence during the study period and 0.35 per cent being suspected of robbery.
”CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS” ARE MORE COMMONLY REGISTERED FOR TYPICAL YOUTH CRIMES
On the whole, those born in Sweden to at least one overseas born parent assume an ’in-between’ position as regards the question of being suspected of criminal offences. It is less common for members of this group to be suspected in connection with various types of crime than it is for those who were themselves born overseas, but it is more common than among persons born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. There are however certain types of offences that are more common within this group than they are in
either of the other two groups. These offence types primarily involve cate-gories of crime where a large proportion of the offences are generally com-mitted by youths (irrespective of background). These involve car thefts, vandalism, drunken driving, drug offences including offences that only in-volve personal consumption, and crimes against the Weapons Act (vapenla-gen) and the Knives Act (knivförbudslagen)
LEVELS OF OVER-REPRESENTATION GREATER AMONG GROUPS FROM CERTAIN AREAS OF THE WORLD THAN OTHERS
The proportion of persons suspected of offences is greater in groups from certain geographical areas than it is in those from others. This is the case for certain parts of Africa, such as North Africa, for example, and for Western Asia. Those coming from West European countries, South-East Asia and from the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zeeland comprise the groups of those born outside Sweden who are registered as crime suspects least often. The factor that distinguishes the areas whose emigrants are suspected of offences in Sweden to a particularly large extent is that the living conditions in these areas are unlike those in the western world. In addition, those moving to Sweden from these areas have often been ”forced” to leave their homelands as refugees, whereas those arriving from western countries most often come more of their own free will. The high level of relative risk noted among North Africans does not however mean that persons from North Africa are responsible for a large proportion of the offences that are linked to crime suspects in Sweden. On the contrary they account for a very small proportion of these offences. The groups that dominate in this regard are those from the Nordic countries.
Persons from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland account for almost five per cent of those suspected of offences, whereas the corresponding fig-ure for North Africans is 0.7 per cent. Amongst other things, of course, this is a result of the fact that the number of persons living in Sweden who were born in North Africa is not very large. The number of immigrants moving to Sweden from her Nordic neighbours is much larger.
IMMIGRATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CONSTITUTES A PROTECTIVE FACTOR AGAINST INVOLVEMENT IN CRIME
International research shows that persons born abroad who move to the new country of residence during their first years of life find it easier to adapt than those who arrive once they have reached school-age. The Na-tional Council’s study indicates that this general observation also holds in relation to criminal behaviour. Those who migrated to Sweden at a very young age, i.e. before starting school, are registered as suspected offenders to a relatively minor extent. Persons who were of school age, up to and including the late teenage years, when they arrived in Sweden, comprise the group whose members were most often registered in connection with crime
LEVELS OF RELATIVE RISK DIMINISH WHEN OTHER SOCIAL FACTORS ARE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION
We know from previous research that certain background factors, such as age and gender, covary with the risk for involvement in crime. Against this background, the National Council has subjected the material to a stan-dardisation procedure in relation to gender, age, level of education and occupational income. This standardisation means that the different groups have been ”equalised” in relation to these factors by means of statistical procedures. On the basis of these statistical calculations, all groups are as-signed the same proportions of men, younger persons etc. Once the material has been standardised in this way, the level of relative risk among those born abroad is reduced from 2.5 to 2.1. The size of the relative risk among those born in Sweden to two foreign-born parents also diminishes substan-tially from 2.0 to 1.5. One reason for this is that these groups contain a larger proportion of young men with low levels of educational attainment and income by comparison with those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents. By contrast, the size of the relative risk is not affected to any appreciable extent among persons born in Sweden with only one parent born abroad. One explanation for this is that this group’s ”profile” in relation to the factors discussed is more similar to that of those born in Sweden to two Swedish born parents.
A lot of blah blah, so I wrote down a few quick points from the study:
The over-representation among imigrants increase up to 300-400 % on crimes such as murder, assault, rape and violence against strangers.
Contrary to myth, the highest proportion of over-representation can not be found among the unemployed and factory workers (90%) but rather among employed people in the service sector (126%) Socioeconomic background doesn't affect the over-representation numbers at all.
Cultural background is clearly a strong factor, the absolute worst over-representation can be found among immigrants from Chile and North Africa's Maghre region while Asians have almost no over-representantion at all.
Middle-easterners have twice has high numbers as Vietnamese and Indians.
Busting the myth of racism as a factor the study confirm Africans from south of sahara and east africa commit fewer crimes than for example people of Chile.
Anyway.... it's a big freaking study.