Empowering Youth Through Bystander Intervention: A Promising Strategy Against Sexual Assault

In the fight against sexual assault, bystander intervention is emerging as a crucial strategy, empowering young people to act when witnessing potential harassment or assault. But do young people even witness risky situations, and if they do, how and why do they intervene?

New blog post by Terese Hartmann.

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Youth street gangs in social media discourse-who is to blame?

This blog post dives into the public discourses surrounding youth street gangs, where media portrayals, social fears, and policy debates intertwine to shape our understanding of the phenomenon. The post discusses how online discussions resemble earlier moral panics about youth, and how these can come to shape policies, and influence public attitudes towards immigration, young immigrant masculinities, and crime.

New blog post by Marja Lönnroth-Olin.

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The new normal? When understaffed prisons becomes the rule rather than the exception

Norwegian prisons have been suffering from a long-term budget and staffing ‘crisis’; the effects of which we observed first-hand during fieldwork on the PriSUD and PRISONHEALTH projects in 2021. We question whether this crisis has become the new normal, and discuss the consequences of said cuts on dynamic security and rehabilitation.

New blog post by Rose E. Boyle and Pernille Nyvoll.

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The Historical Criminal Statistics of the Nordic Countries 1810–2022 is launched

At the NSfK research seminar in Skåne, historical criminologist Miikka Vuorela unveiled a unique web-based statistical database with Nordic crime data going back more than 200 years.

‘The Historical Criminal Statistics of the Nordic Countries 1810– 2022’ is a data collection project that is in its current final phase and funded by the Nordic Research Council for Criminology.

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NSfK PhD Seminar 2024

The NSfK once again welcome PhD students in Criminology to our annual PhD seminar.

The year’s event will be organised in Copenhagen and take place 6–7 November, 2024.

Read more and apply.

Save the date: NSfK Research Seminar 2025

The next NSfK Research Seminar 2025 will take place in Denmark 7–9 May, 2025.

Read more and discover the topic.

Challenges of estimating the number of crimes averted through incapacitation

It is often argued that one of the main ways prison may reduce crime is through its incapacitation effect. Incarcerating an offender reduces the individual’s ability to commit further crimes. However, due to methodological challenges, little is known about how many offenses may potentially be averted by sentencing an offender to prison. This newly published study estimates how many offenses are averted through the incapacitation of first-time incarcerated offenders.

New blog post by Enes Al Weswasi.

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Welcome to our new contact secretary

Frederikke Hougaard Hansen works in crime prevention at the Danish Prison and Probation Service.

She replaces Helena Birk Oxlund as contact secretary for Denmark.

Welcome to the NSfK!

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Seven Nordic research projects and working groups awarded funding

The Nordic Research Council for Criminology (NSfK) is proud to announce the recipients of this year’s research grants.

NSfK has awarded grants for criminological research to provide new insights into a variety of topics, including drug wholesaling, responses to hate crime, sentiments on crime and punishment in the Nordics, restorative justice, prevention of child sexual offences, and more.

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