Wittrock, U. (1995). Barnmisshandel, 1984-1994 [Violent crimes against children, 1984-1994]. KR Info, 1-6.  

SCB (Central Office for Vital Statistics)
KR info 1995:5
Criminal Statistics at the Central Office for Vital Statistics, 115 81 Stockholm
Phone 08/783 50 11

Notes on translation.

Criminal statistics generally concern

• Crimes registered by the police
• Persons suspected of crime
• Persons who are taken to court (sentenced etc. for crimes)

In the statistics of registered crimes and persons suspected of committing crimes is information about victims of assault from 1981. In that year assault crimes started to be divided according to the victims’ age: 0-6 years, 7-14 years, and 15- as well as sex for the oldest age group.

The statistics of persons taken to court includes information about the perpetrators and sentences for assault, there is however no information about the victims--we do not know how many of the assault cases taken to court involved children.

Hidden criminal activity

Criminal statistics only include the visible criminal activity. That is criminal activity registered by the police. But there are also crimes committed that are never registered by police--the hidden criminal activity. It is very clear that there is a hidden criminal activity as far as assaults on children are concerned, but we do not know how big it is. The numbers commonly mentioned in various connections are pure speculation.

To better be able to interpret differences between different years, one should consider that:

• The attention that child assault has received in newspapers in recent years is likely to have impacted the tendency to report. It is therefore hard to know to what extent the increases that show in the tables below correspond to an actual increase or correspond to increased willingness to report.
• Not all cases are assaults on children in the customary sense (that is parents etc. assaulting their children). Some cases for instance involve youth assaulting other children/youth.
• There may be reports covering several crimes committed over a longer period of time, but which are included in the statistics the year in which they were reported. See also the last page: Number count.

Abuse of children 0-6 years

Year	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Crimes registered by police	222	236	211	264	266	365	437	517	603	642	838
Thereof:
Serious	24	25	21	31	38	37	57	50	58	86	141
In major urban counties	125	102	86	115	111	201	162	238	255	286	333
Knows the victim, indoors	127	128	122	153	142	184	248	304	378	407	583
Cases (=reports)	196	227	198	239	256	340	396	466	513	587	711
Crimes/cases	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.2	1.1	1.2
Resolved crimes	87	124	113	111	119	167	174	262	308	329	328
Suspicion of crime not remaining	52	39	56	54	52	76	69	108	140	175	181
Thereof:
Action not a crime	5	8	16	19	16	9	14	14	25	30	23
Crime not proved	32	20	25	24	19	45	35	46	62	96	104
Minor perpetrator	10	8	8	5	9	11	8	17	26	13	15
Other	5	3	7	6	8	11	12	31	27	36	39
Suspicion of crime remains	35	85	57	57	67	91	105	154	168	154	147

Above information is collected from the statistics of reported and resolved crimes. The information below is collected from the statistics of the crimes where the prosecutor made a decision as to prosecuting (crime participation). See explanation on the last page: Number count.

Crime participation (=crime where suspicion remains and suspected person exists)	35	77	43	47	65	114	93	147	205	152	145
Crime that did not lead to any action	2	8	2	4	7	1	10	20	30	29	29
Crime that did lead to action	33	69	41	43	58	113	83	127	175	123	116
as percentage of reported crime	15	29	19	16	22	31	19	25	29	19	14
prosecution	28	56	32	36	49	105	68	108	108	100	100
plea bargain	2	6	8	5	7	5	10	8	62	12	13
not prosecuted	3	7	1	2	2	3	5	11	5	11	3

Suspected persons	29	65	38	44	59	66	78	101	104	124	116
thereof
15-19 years of age	2	3	1	1	4	1	5	5	3	5	4
20-24 years of age	4	13	5	8	4	8	9	9	12	7	12
25-29 years of age	10	14	12	6	15	11	23	31	28	26	25
30-39 years of age	8	17	14	16	26	26	25	34	39	48	48
40-49 years of age	4	11	5	8	7	16	11	18	15	28	18
50- years of age	1	7	1	5	3	4	5	4	7	10	9

thereof
women	7	14	7	7	13	15	15	22	32	39	26
Swedish citizens	21	47	31	35	46	54	54	76	70	78	83
other Nordic citizens	2	4	3	4	5	2	5	6	5	7	8
other foreign citizens	6	14	4	5	8	10	19	19	29	39	25

[translator’s note: Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland]

Crime participation / Suspected persons

1.2

1.2

1.1

1.1

1.1

1.7

1.2

1.5

2.0

1.2

1.3

Assaults of children 7-14 years of age

Year	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Crimes registered by police	941	1050	1075	1623	1506	1407	1738	1948	2288	2723	3544
Thereof:
Serious	49	51	42	88	228	92	120	153	138	167	215
In major urban counties	467	469	494	573	654	721	761	983	1100	1332	1865
Knows the victim, indoors	313	336	338	799	697	429	647	730	864	1101	1510
Cases (=reports)	892	1004	1020	1095	1286	1339	1615	1812	2112	2566	3273
Crimes/cases	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.5	1.2	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1
Resolved crimes	520	579	633	1183	787	749	1008	1216	1357	1669	1995
Suspicion of crime not remaining	206	269	317	358	396	359	516	619	709	963	1125
Thereof:
Action not a crime	23	31	33	37	39	47	40	44	54	50	64
Crime not proved	57	69	84	90	77	76	108	112	144	195	232
Minor perpetrator	116	148	182	199	245	202	304	374	431	620	718
Other	10	21	18	32	35	34	64	89	80	98	111
Suspicion of crime remains	314	310	316	825	391	390	492	597	648	706	870

Above information is collected from the statistics of reported and resolved crimes. The information below is collected from the statistics of the crimes where the prosecutor made a decision as to prosecuting (crime participation). See explanation on the last page: Number count.

Crime participation (=crime where suspicion remains and suspected person exists)	314	298	305	719	379	390	479	596	661	736	890
Crime that did not lead to any action	23	40	13	22	25	27	54	48	97	80	76
Crime that did lead to action	291	258	292	697	354	363	425	548	564	656	814
as percentage of reported crime	31	25	27	43	24	26	24	28	25	24	23
prosecution	211	186	201	610	246	277	314	417	436	516	640
plea bargain	32	40	51	50	53	47	68	73	81	86	107
not prosecuted	48	32	40	37	55	39	43	58	47	54	67

Suspected persons	278	261	261	298	326	324	392	463	489	613	735
thereof
15-19 years of age	107	88	112	114	139	131	150	187	201	246	354
20-24 years of age	12	13	9	14	21	25	22	20	14	23	28
25-29 years of age	19	24	14	7	25	16	8	19	28	34	29
30-39 years of age	68	58	54	70	71	57	98	99	96	129	151
40-49 years of age	47	47	38	56	47	74	84	99	96	129	116
50- years of age	25	31	34	37	23	21	30	39	54	52	57

thereof
women	34	35	37	49	45	35	65	64	77	94	130
Swedish citizens	225	209	209	242	275	253	300	377	367	472	579
other Nordic citizens	25	23	21	22	18	26	25	22	27	22	39
other foreign citizens	28	29	31	34	33	45	67	64	95	119	117

[translator’s note: Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland]

Crime participation / Suspected persons

1.1

1.1

1.2

2.4

1.2

1.2

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.2

1.2

[4 charts in original document:]

Chart 1 [Diagram 1]
Abuse of children 0-6 years of age, 1984-1994
[vertical axis:]
Number
[horizontal axis: shows years]
Anmälda brott = reported crimes
Anmälningar = reports

Chart 2 [Diagram 2]
Abuse of children 0-6 years of age, 1984-1994
[vertical axis:]
Number\
[horizontal axis: shows years]
Brottsdeltaganden = Crime participation
Misstänkta personer = Suspected persons

Chart 3 [Diagram 3]
Abuse of children 0-6 years of age, 1984-1994
[vertical axis:]
Number
[horizontal axis: shows years]
Anmälda brott = reported crimes
Anmälningar = reports

Chart 4 [Diagram 4]

Assaults of children 7-14 years of age, 1984-1994
[vertical axis:]Number
[horizontal axis: shows years]
Brottsdeltaganden = Crime participation
Misstänkta personer = Suspected persons

Please note:

The statistics concern the number of reported crimes and not the number of children impacted (victims). With this type of crime there are often several crimes reported against a particular individual. In occasional cases a report can contain a large number of crimes, which results in the number of reported crimes significantly exceeding the number of reports for a particular year. That also causes great differences between the number of crime participations and the number of suspected persons during the year.

This is for example the case with assaults of 7-14 year olds in 1987 (see the charts above). In February 1987 417 crimes relating to assault of 7-14 year olds, indoors and with a close relation between perpetrator and victim were reported. The average for the other months was 32 reported crimes. From the statistics it is also shown that 36 persons in the age bracket 40-49 years of age together were behind 400 crime participations in 1987. However it is not shown how many crimes a single report refers to.

The most violent crime

In the criminal statistics of reported crime, the most violent crime is reported under the category reported murders and manslaughter, as well as assault with deadly result. Information about the victims is missing in the regular statistics. A special study was made of reported completed murders, manslaughter and assault with deadly result, 1991-93. In this study there are among other things information about the victims’ sex and age. Of the 100 victims in 1993, 10 were children under the age of 15.

SCB statistics of causes of death include information of how many people have died from murder, manslaughter and other injury intentionally caused another person, divided by victims’ age and sex. Note that only persons resident in Sweden are included in the statistics.

Persons who have died from murder, manslaughter and other injury intentionally caused by another person, 1984-1993

Year	Children (0-4 years)	Children (5-14 years)	Women (15- years)	Men (15- years)
1984	1	2	30	59
1985	4	5	28	67
1986	4	3	39	75
1987	5	2	35	59
1988	6	2	35	59
1989	1	2	44	82
1990	6	8	28	67
1991	6	3	27	92
1992	7	4	36	70
1993	6	4	33	71

Statistics of legal actions for assault of children missing

Statistics of persons with legal action taken against them contain information about the perpetrators and what the punishments are for assault. There is however no information about the victims. It is therefore not possible to answer how assault of children is punished directly from the statistics.

Ulla Wittrock

phone 08-783 50 11

6/13/1995

Number counts:

1) Different types of crime have different rules for what number the police is to register at a report that does not refer to one clearly defined crime committed by one person at one time.

With assault the rule is that one crime is counted per person assaulted. If the same person has been assaulted on several occasions, one crime is counted for each defined occasion. This applies as well for example with assaults on women and children. The number of perpetrators is not counted.

2) There are in addition general rules for how many crimes to declare. As a resolved crime the original number reported and registered is shown, unless the preliminary investigation has shown that a higher number of crimes was involved.

The statistics of the number of "crime participations" for suspected persons shows the number that the prosecutor determined in connection with finishing the preliminary investigation. A cause for the number of crime participations differing from the number of "resolved crimes where suspicion of crime remains" can be redefinition of the crimes. Generally a redefinition means that a more violent deed is viewed as less violent. In the statistics this generally means that the number of crime participations becomes less than the number of "resolved crimes where suspicion of crimes remains" for the most violent crimes. For the less violent crimes the number of crime participations generally becomes higher than the number of "resolved crimes where suspicion of crime remains".

Example: 1

A report is made to the police involving assault at 5 different occasions. Then 5 different crimes are registered. If the police locates a suspected perpetrator, the case is turned over to the prosecutor. The prosecutor determines that all 5 incidents are disturbances of peace. The statistics show:

- 5 reported assault crimes

- 5 resolved assault crimes

- 5 crime participations relating to disturbances of peace.

Another cause for the number of crime participations being different from the number of "resolved crimes where suspicion of crime remains" is that the prosecutor has not been able to prove all the crimes involved in the report.

Example: 2

A report is made to the police involving assault at 5 different occasions. Then 5 different crimes are registered. If the police locates a suspected perpetrator, the case is turned over to the prosecutor. The prosecutor can only prove 3 of the crimes. The statistics show:

- 5 reported assault crimes

- 5 resolved assault crimes

- 3 crime participations relating to assault.

3) When you are interpreting the changes from year to year, as well as when reading the tables by column, you need to remember that reported crimes are shown in the statistics in the year in which the report was registered by the police (and that regardless of if the crimes are committed over a longer period of years). Crime participations are shown in the year that the prosecutor decides whether to prosecute. This is sometimes one or more years after the crimes were reported. There is thus time shifting in the statistics.