A Detailed Analysis of Childhood Victimization Using National Registers: Forms and Sequencing of Violence and Domestic Abuse

Using highly detailed longitudinal data from Danish registers, this study overcomes limitations inherent in victimization surveys and compares the role of individual and family characteristics for five forms of childhood violence, including sexual assaults and threats. The study also examines repeated and poly-victimization and the factors underlying abuse by different types of domestic perpetrators. This study finds that children aged 0 to 12 are the most exposed to sexual abuse, aggravated violence, and domestic abuse; that 30% of young victims of sex and threats will be victimized again; and that the economic and physical vulnerability of the mother in particular is a strong risk factor for early abuse. This study shows the importance of national registers in uncovering under-researched areas of childhood victimization and identifying the most vulnerable groups

The influence of attitudes toward immigrants on international migration

We investigate whether anti-immigrant attitudes affect migrant inflows in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Using longitudinal exhaustive data, we find that natives' hostility, particularly natives' propensity to discriminate on the labor market, reduces immigration. This effect is comparable to more conventional migration factors. We obtain robust results when we, for example, capture hostility with far-right parties' popularity instead and control for tighter immigration policies or multilateral resistance to migration. We find a stronger effect for EU-to-EU migrants, migrants from developed countries and linguistically close countries. Our results raise a challenge for policy makers when the demand for foreign workers and anti-immigrant sentiment are present.Web of Science51245141

Prison as a Criminal School: Peer Effects and Criminal Learning behind Bars

We investigate peer effects on crime-specific recidivism using register data for the entire Danish prison population. We find that inmates do not acquire new criminal capital in prison (no introductory peer effects). For certain types of crimes, we find that inmates strengthen their criminal capital in prison because of exposure to offenders in their field of specialization (reinforcing peer effects). Our results accord with a theory of crime-specific knowledge transmission and network building: we find reinforcing peer effects for crimes that require specific capital, planning, and networks (for example, drug crimes, theft, burglary, and fencing) and/or are more effective when committed in groups (for example, threats and vandalism). Reinforcing peer effects are especially strong because of exposure to more experienced criminals. By contrast, we find that exposure to offenders in the same specialization deters inmates from recidivism for violent offenses, including sexual offenses and robbery

Democratic Involvement and Immigrants' Compliance with the Law

Many people are concerned about societal cohesion in the face of higher numbers of foreigners migrating to Western democracies. The challenge for the future is to find and adopt institutions that foster integration. We investigate how the right to vote in local elections affects immigrants' compliance with the law. In our study for Denmark, we exploit an institutional regulation that grants foreigners local voting rights after three years of stay. Relying on register data, we find causal evidence that the first possibility to vote considerably reduces the number of legal offenses of non-Western male immigrants in the time after elections

Migration, Diasporas and Culture: An Empirical Investigation

Using a gravity model we examine the dynamics of migration from developing to OECD countries. Origin and destination countries are characterized by substantial differences in incomes, political rights and cultures. Incentives as well as costs shape the decision to migrate. One powerful dynamic effect is that diasporas increase migration, mainly because they lower the cost of migration. Diasporas assist the next wave of migrants by overcoming the high cost of the emigration, in particular when the origin country is far away and poor. The interaction between the diaspora and cultural distance is also significant. Diasporas in culturally distant countries appear to be particularly useful in overcoming the cost of migration. We interpret this as evidence that culturally distant diasporas are less likely to integrate and maintain closer links with their country of origin, while diasporas from culturally similar countries are more likely to integrate and thus be less useful to potential new migrants