Blog
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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…
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Ongoing studies on victim- offender mediation in Finland: An overview
By Aino Jauhiainen Finland has a rich history of victim- offender mediation. Initiated in 1983 and applied into criminal justice legislation in 2005, this restorative justice practice currently receives around 13 000 criminal cases per year. The ensemble of previous research on this topic is large, containing studies on moral emotions, youth delinquency, intimate partner violence…
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Ambiguities of algorithmic governance: social harm perspective
By Nea Lepinkäinen and Hanna Maria Malik Political systems face increasing pressure to deliver decisions at accelerated speed, and a failure to keep up with these rising standards deems the state bureaucracies the epitome of slowness, inflexibility and inefficiency. In other words, in modern societies, characterized by continuous acceleration, adherence to legalistic procedures collides with…
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Retreat or entrenchment: Drug policies in Iceland revisited
By Helgi Gunnlaugsson Many signs of a retreat in the control of drugs can be detected in Iceland in most recent years. Instead of a predominantly criminal justice response toward possession of drugs, abuse of drugs is increasingly being viewed as a public health problem. A case in point demonstrating a shift, minor possession of…
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Sexual crimes in the context of sentencing consistency – an example from Finland
By Tiina Malin Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a crime type that among other sexual offences repeatedly rouses heated public debates. Often the outcome in these discussions is that the public does not find the sentences of these crimes to be harsh enough. Moreover, the topic is regularly reported on by the media. When visiting…
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The “Violent Offender” Experience. Take-aways from the 2022 EFRJ conference
By Clara Rosa Sandbye In June 2022, I participated in my first international conference as a PhD fellow, organized by the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ). It took place in Sassari in northern Sardinia, Italy. Here, around 350 academics and practitioners of restorative justice from 41 different countries gathered to present, discuss, and form…
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Traffic crimes mostly increased in Finland during COVID-19 time
By Mika Sutela Empty roads inspired drivers to speed Serious speeding has increased on Finnish roads during the COVID-19 time. If we look at number of monthly causing a serious traffic hazard offences (i.e. about 50km/h speed over the limit) reported to the police in Finland in recent years, we can notice that there was…