NCJ Number
169790
Date Published
1996
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Crime patterns in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries from the Middle Ages to the present are analyzed, with emphasis on crime rates, the emergence of new forms of crime, changes in the role of courts, and factors that explain these changes.
Abstract
The analysis reveals that the frequency of murder and manslaughter was generally lower in the period from the middle of the 18th century to the present than it was in the period from the 15th century to the mid-17th century. Sometime between the middle of the 17th century and the middle of the 18th century a significant change apparently occurred. The findings suggest a phase model that combines data on criminality with information about varying systems of control and other important societal processes. In the middle ages and most of the 16th century the courts were largely an instrument for resolving conflicts between individuals. From the latter half of the 16th century to the mid-18th century the courts continued to resolve personal conflicts and also increasingly served the modern government by prosecuting illegal trading, smuggling, or using false measures. The socioeconomic and cultural polarization in the late 18th century and early 19th century produced an increase in crime and growing interest in using the courts to control the lower classes. Subsequently the courts became increasingly occupied with confirming economic settlements and ruling on economic matters; decisions on criminal law followed more professional procedures and semiformal control systems were extensive. Thus, the concept of a shift from a violent society to a thieving society is oversimplified. Similarly, the shift in functions of the courts was not simple. Tables and reference notes