Nordic homicide in deep time : lethal violence in the early modern era and present times

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time draws a unique, detailed picture of developments in human violence and presents new findings on homicide in Northern Europe in two eras – the 17th century and early 21st century. The book provides answers to questions, such as where and when did homicide typically occur, who were the victims and the offenders, and what were the circumstances of their conflicts? Additionally, it offers an empirically grounded view on how state consolidation and changing routines of everyday life transformed the patterns of criminal homicide in the Nordics. This publication is also a methodological experiment. When developing a new approach for extending homicide research into the deep past, the authors created a new instrument, the Historical Homicide Monitor. This tool combines wide explanatory scope, measurement standardization, and articulated theory expression. By retroactively expanding research data to the pre-statistical era, the method enables long-duration comparison of different periods and areas. Written by an interdisciplinary team of criminologists and historians for professionals, students and anyone interested in the history of human behaviour, Nordic Homicide in Deep Time helps the reader to understand modern homicide by revealing the historical continuities and changes in lethal violence.VertaisarvioitupeerReviewe

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time draws a unique and detailed picture of developments in human interpersonal violence and presents new findings on rates, patterns, and long-term changes in lethal violence in the Nordics. Conducted by an interdisciplinary team of criminologists and historians, the book analyses homicide and lethal violence in northern Europe in two eras – the 17th century and early 21st century. Similar and continuous societal structures, cultural patterns, and legal cultures allow for long-term and comparative homicide research in the Nordic context. Reflecting human universals and stable motives, such as revenge, jealousy, honour, and material conflicts, homicide as a form of human behaviour enables long-duration comparison. By describing the rates and patterns of homicide during these two eras, the authors unveil continuity and change in human violence. Where and when did homicide typically take place? Who were the victims and the offenders, what where the circumstances of their conflicts? Was intimate partner homicide more prevalent in the early modern period than in present times? How long a time elapsed from violence to death? Were homicides often committed in the context of other crime? The book offers answers to these questions among others, comparing regions and eras. We gain a unique and empirically grounded view on how state consolidation and changing routines of everyday life transformed the patterns of criminal homicide in Nordic society. The path to pacification was anything but easy, punctuated by shorter crises of social turmoil, and high violence. The book is also a methodological experiment that seeks to assess the feasibility of long-duration standardized homicide analysis and to better understand the logic of homicide variation across space and over time. In developing a new approach for extending homicide research into the deep past, the authors have created the Historical Homicide Monitor. The new instrument combines wide explanatory scope, measurement standardization, and articulated theory expression. By retroactively expanding research data to the pre-statistical era, the method enables long-duration comparison of different periods and areas. Based on in-depth source critique, the approach captures patterns of criminal behaviour, beyond the control activity of the courts. The authors foresee the application of their approach in even remoter periods. Nordic Homicide in Deep Time helps the reader to understand modern homicide by revealing the historical continuities and changes in lethal violence. The book is written for professionals, university students and anyone interested in the history of human behaviour

Nordic homicide report : Homicide in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, 2007–2016

This report compares the trends and patterns of lethal violence in from 2007 to 2016, in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The report is a product of the “Nordic Homicide from Past to Present” research project, funded by the Scandinavian Research Council for criminology. The main findings include: * Based on homicide mortality rates, the Nordic countries form currently three groups: compared to the rates in Denmark and Sweden, the homicide mortality rate is about 30 per cent higher in Finland and 30 per cent lower in Norway and Iceland. However, by global standards, all the countries have extremely low rates of homicide mortality. * In Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the hotspots of lethal violence are the metropolitan areas of the largest cities; in Finland, the rural areas and small towns in the eastern and northern provinces. In this respect, the situation in Scandinavia and Iceland resembles that in Western Europe, in Finland again, it resembles that in some of the eastern European countries. * In all five countries, non-working working-age male substance abusers are hugely over-represented among homicide offenders and victims. * In the three Scandinavian countries, immigrants make up to 25 to 40 per cent of homicide offenders, while in Iceland and Finland their proportion is about 10 per cent. While this difference reflects the sizes of the immigrant populations, differential risks are also involved. In all Nordic countries, the homicide offending rates of immigrants are higher than those of native residents, but this difference is substantially larger in Scandinavia than in Iceland or Finland. * The role of alcohol and drinking situations in lethal violence is central in Finland, Iceland and Sweden, but only moderate in Denmark and insignificant in Norway. This is reflected in the temporal distribution of homicide incidents; and to the lower percentage of crimes in near relations and the higher percentage of male victims in Finland, Iceland and Sweden. * Concerning firearm homicides, Sweden is currently a clear outlier in the region with every fourth homicide being perpetrated by firearms. The firearm homicide rate in Sweden is the highest of all the Nordic countries. The situation has deteriorated fast in the last few years. Firearm homicides are concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö and to a large extent are linked to gang violence in a few residential districts. * Nordic homicide clearance rates are among the highest in the world; offenders are caught and sentenced almost without exception. The official control policies are effective and arguably contribute to very low homicide rates in the region when compared with the global situation