NCJ Number
132933
Date Published
1991
Length
278 pages
Annotation
Urban crime in Sweden since World War Two is examined and compared with the experiences of the United Kingdom and the United States with emphasis on data from empirical studies conducted in Stockholm in the late 1970's and the 1980's.
Abstract
The analysis focuses on violence, vandalism, and theft and uses cross-sectional and longitudinal data to describe the rate, structure, and trends in Swedish urban criminality; offender characteristics and crime patterns; victim-offender relationships; and the relationships among housing, demographic characteristics, and offending and routine activities, geographic location, and victimization patterns. The discussion emphasizes that these crimes in Sweden are similar to patterns in Anglo-American countries in that they are concentrated in urban areas, particularly large urban areas. Property crimes are particularly concentrated in urban areas. Variations within urban areas in the size, density, heterogeneity, and social life of populations affect crime patterns. Thus, opportunities for informal social control and victimization risks vary significantly by time and geographic location with a city. Understanding these variations is central to understanding the rate and structure of crime and victimization. Maps, figures, tables, appended definitions and methodological information, and 237 references