Professional Documents
Culture Documents
*48 See for example Hauge, R. (2001): Kriminalitetens rsaker, Universitetsforl aget, eller Larsen, G. (1997): Innvandrete folkeslag og kriminalitet, i Finstad & Higrd (red.): Kriminologi, Pax *49 Hllsten, M., Sarnecki, J. & Szulkin, R. (2011): Crime as a Price of Inequality? The Delinquency Gap
between Children of Immigrants and Children of Native Swedes, Universitetet I Stockholm, se http://webb.polopoly.it.su.se/content/1/c6/01/18/63/SULCISWP_2011_1.pdf
[52]
Citizenship and national background perpetrator *50 The majority of registered perpetrators in cases of reported rape in Oslo in 2010 have Norwegian citizenship, as has been the case in every previous rape study. In 2010 this went for 61.2% of the perpetrators, which is relatively stable compared to the material from 2007 (60.3%). A relatively high proportion, 12.5%, of the registered perpetrators are from other parts of Europe, and taken together almost three quarters of the perpetrators in 2010 have European citizenship. For the rest, 10.5% are from Africa, 9.2% from the Middle East, 4.6% from Asia and 2% from America. *51 Even though a majority of the registered perpetrators have Norwegian citizenship, a high proportion of them are originally from other countries than Norway. In 2007 there was an unusually high proportion of perpetrators from the African continent, accounting for 30.5% of cases, so that the proportion with Norwegian backgrounds was unusually low (27.2%). This could be attributed to a reported group rape in which several persons of African background were involved. The picture in 2010 is more normalized, and in line with the trend from 2004. In 2010 the proportion of perpetrators with a Norwegian background is 34.9% and the proportion originating from the European continent outside Norway is 13.8%. Together almost half (48.7%) of the perpetrators had a European ethnic background. The proportion of perpetrators with a background in the continent of Africa had sunk to 19.7%, the Middle-East 15.1%, Asia 14.1%, and America 2%. *50 As described in the introduction, the definition of the Central Statistics Office (SSB) forms the basis for national background and the distinction Norwegian/non-Norwegian. *51 The Middle-East does not include Egypt, but does include Turkey and the states of the Arabian peninsular, together with Iraq and Iran.
Figure 8: Perpetrator's citizenship. Oslo police district 2010. Per cent. N=152 (cases). 2010 Norway 61,2%, America 2,0%, Asia 4,6%, Middle-East 9,2%, Africa 10,5%, Europe,12,5% [53] Figure 9: Perpetrator's (also repeatedly suspected/person seen) continent of origin. Oslo police district 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010. Per cent. N=115, 110, 151 and 152 (cases). 2001
Norway 47%, Europe 7%, America 6%, Africa 10%, Asia 7%, Middle-East 23% 2004 Norway 36,4%, Europe 10,9%, America 2,7%, Africa 19,1%, Asia 10,0%, Middle-East 20,9% 2007 Norway 27,2%, Asia 15,2%, Africa 30,5%, Middle-East 15,9%, Europe 7,9%, America 3,3% 2010 Europe 13,8%, Middle-East 15,1%, Asia 14,5%, Africa 19,7, America 2,0%, Norway 34,9%,
[54] It was previously mentioned that the total number of cases with a reported perpetrator is 152, comprising 131 different persons. A number of persons are thus reported as perpetrators in connection with multiple rapes. In the following figure the continental background is shown only for unique perpetrators (each perpetrator is only counted once, irrespective of the number of reports in which this individual is suspected or was seen). The proportion of perpetrators (unique persons) of Norwegian national background is the group whose representation increases the most, comprising 38.2% of perpetrators. Together this brings the proportion of perpetrators with a European continental background to a total of 51.9%. The proportion with an Asian background falls to 11.5%, but otherwise the continental background profile is stable. Africa was 28.5%, while they made up 30.5% in the distribution of cases shown previously. This may be explained by the fact that a number of unique perpetrators of an African background were reported for more than one rape in the course of the year.
Figure 10: Perpetrator's (different, unique persons) country/continent of origin. Oslo police district 2010. Per cent. N=131 2010 Europe America Africa Asia Middle-East Norway 13,7% 2,3% 19,8% 11,5% 14,5% 38,2%
If you distribute unique perpetrators by nationality, the largest groups originate in Norway (50), Iraq (8), Pakistan (9), Lithuania (7), Morocco (6), Somalia, Afghanistan and Sweden (5), Turkey and Gambia (4). When you break down the rape reports by type of rape and identified suspect/person seen's country of origin, you come closer to a more nuanced picture of the relationship between rape and ethnicity. Crude generalizations that have given the impression that rapists are only foreigners and primarily Muslims are shown to be inadequate and erroneous. Below it can be seen that the largest group (11.8%) of perpetrators among all 152 known suspects/persons seen were Norwegian and reported for relationship rape. This may to a certain extent be attributed to the fact that perpetrators in relationship rapes are more often identified individuals than those who are reported in other types of rape. But the next largest groups also comprise persons with a Norwegian background; 10% were Norwegians reported for party-related violations, 9.2% were Norwegians reported for vulnerability rapes. Significant groups among known suspects/persons seen are also 7.9% of European origin and were reported for party-related rape. These are followed by 7.9% of Middle-Eastern origin reported for relationship rapes. [55] Table 29: Suspects/persons seen in rape reports in Oslo police district in 2010 distributed by type of rape and continent/country background. Per cent. Country background of perpetrator Africa America Asia Europe Middle-East Norway Total N= Party-related Relationship Vulnerability Assault Other Total N=
30 3 22 21 23 53 152
The ethnic profile varies within the different types of rape, but for all types except assault rape the largest group is composed of Norwegian perpetrators. Assault rape only comprises 6 cases, however, and the same perpetrator was responsible for two of these (there were 5 unique suspects/persons seen in 6 reports). In 4 of the six reports (3 unique men) the perpetrator was from the Middle-East, in one assault rape the man was from Africa, and in another, from Asia. Claims that all assault rapes are committed by foreigners are thus supported by these figures, although the basis for the claims is small and the selection is special. Two of the five different identified perpetrators responsible for the assault rapes were very young less
than 18 and two had serious psychiatric diagnoses. If you extend the material to cover the 16 assault rape cases in which the person is unidentified, but where a description has been provided by the victim, another picture emerges: 8 of the perpetrators were of African/dark-skinned appearance, 5 were western/fair-haired/Nordic and 4 looked Asian. It is not certain how many different people provided these descriptions of the perpetrators, as the perpetrators of assault rapes tend to commit several violations.
Table 30: Types of rape reported to Oslo police district in 2010 with an identified suspect/person seen, distributed by perpetrator's country of origin. Per cent.
Country background of perpetrator Africa America Asia Europe Middle-East Norway Total N=
Relationship
Vulnerability
Assault
Other Total
N=
30 3 22 21 23 53 152
The ethnic profile for all types of rape except assault rape is dominated by persons of Norwegian origin, but is otherwise varied. If citizenship had been used as a background variable the proportion of Norwegians would have been even higher. For party-related rape, in addition to the Norwegian 32.7%, there is a large proportion with another European background (24.5%). Together with the Norwegians, Europeans make up more than half of the known perpetrators. Perpetrators from the Middle-East, who are over-represented among those reported for assault rape, are under-represented in this party-related type of rape.
[56]
For relationship rape, on the other hand, a relatively high proportion of known perpetrators are from the Middle-East (26.7%) besides the Norwegian group (40%), together with a significant group of persons
with another European background. Responsibility for the 41 vulnerability rape cases in our material lies with Norwegians (34.1%) and also persons with African and Asian backgrounds. It must be emphasized once more that the marked over-representation of individuals from a minority background in connection with several types of rape cannot be interpreted as a result of alien culture being a causal explanation for rape. The reports apply to only a few of the rapes that occur, and the inclination to report rape is different for perpetrators of Norwegian origin than it is for those of a different country of origin. Furthermore there is thorough quantitative research to confirm that statistical differences in criminal behavior between ethnic groups disappear when the figures are controlled for the socio-economic circumstances in which the individuals concerned have grown up in Norway.
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