Nordic homicide report : Homicide in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, 2007–2016

• Main Authors: Lehti, Martti, Kivivuori, Janne, Bergsdóttir, Guðbjörg S., Engvold, Heidi, Granath, Sven, Jónasson, Jónas O., Liem, Marieke, Okholm, Mikkel M., Rautelin, Mona, Suonpää, Karoliina, Syversen, Vibeke S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Helsinki, Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy 2019
• Subjects: Homicide; Manslaughter; Infanticide; Nordic countries; Criminology; Murder; Assault leading to death; kriminologia; henkirikokset; väkivaltarikokset; murha; tappo; Pohjoismaat; kriminologi; brott mot liv; våldsbrott; mord; dråp; Norden; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/306217

This report compares the trends and patterns of lethal violence in from 2007 to 2016, in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The report is a product of the “Nordic Homicide from Past to Present” research project, funded by the Scandinavian Research Council for criminology. The main findings include: * Based on homicide mortality rates, the Nordic countries form currently three groups: compared to the rates in Denmark and Sweden, the homicide mortality rate is about 30 per cent higher in Finland and 30 per cent lower in Norway and Iceland. However, by global standards, all the countries have extremely low rates of homicide mortality. * In Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the hotspots of lethal violence are the metropolitan areas of the largest cities; in Finland, the rural areas and small towns in the eastern and northern provinces. In this respect, the situation in Scandinavia and Iceland resembles that in Western Europe, in Finland again, it resembles that in some of the eastern European countries. * In all five countries, non-working working-age male substance abusers are hugely over-represented among homicide offenders and victims. * In the three Scandinavian countries, immigrants make up to 25 to 40 per cent of homicide offenders, while in Iceland and Finland their proportion is about 10 per cent. While this difference reflects the sizes of the immigrant populations, differential risks are also involved. In all Nordic countries, the homicide offending rates of immigrants are higher than those of native residents, but this difference is substantially larger in Scandinavia than in Iceland or Finland. * The role of alcohol and drinking situations in lethal violence is central in Finland, Iceland and Sweden, but only moderate in Denmark and insignificant in Norway. This is reflected in the temporal distribution of homicide incidents; and to the lower percentage of crimes in near relations and the higher percentage of male victims in Finland, Iceland and Sweden. * Concerning ...