Violence concentration? Tracking subtypes of violence and victimization among young men in Stockholm through data triangulation

• In Event: Trends in lethal and non-lethal violence

Abstract

Sweden, like many other countries, has seen a decline in juvenile violence over the first two decades of the 2000s. During the same time period, Sweden has experienced an increase in lethal juvenile violence. This increase has first and foremost concerned young males in Metropolitan areas, including the capital Stockholm. In this study, we focus on the development of non-lethal juvenile violence among males born 1984-2003 who resided in Stockholm in their teenage years (15 to 18) during the first two decades of the 2000s. We employ two separate datasets, based on longitudinal register data and a large cross-sectional school survey, the Stockholm School Survey (SSS). Indicators of violence from register data come from criminal suspicions and inpatient data on violent victimization, while SSS includes self-reported use of violence and exposure to violence. We harmonize three categories on non-lethal violent crime – instrumental, physical, and non-physical – between the different sources and we also separate between regions in the city that have been more exposed to lethal juvenile violence during the 2000s. The first aim is to give a comprehensive overview of the trends in non-lethal violence prevalence across these successive birth cohorts, using register-based and self-reported indicators that covers various subtypes of violent perpetration and victimization. The second aim is to examine whether, and to what extent, juvenile violent offenders have gradually become increasingly severe in terms of their frequency and severity of offending, and marginalized in terms of school failure and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Authors

• Fredrik Sivertsson, Stockholm university

• Julia Sandahl, Department of Criminology, Stockholm University

• Anders Nilsson, Stockholm university