Homicide in Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden

Abstract

Due to differences in definitions, data sources and criminal justice procedures, comparing homicides between countries is not without problems. To overcome these limitations, we have constructed a joint European Homicide Monitor (EHM). So far, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden constitute the basis of the database. In this contribution, we give an overview of this new data set. In doing so, we elaborate on methodological issues that arose when constructing this data set and discuss the feasibility of constructing an international and comparable homicide data set. Preliminary results show that the EHM as a joint database provides unique opportunities to closely monitor homicide across Europe.

Differentiating Male and Female Intimate Partner Homicide Perpetrators: A Study of Social, Criminological and Clinical Factors

“…Although rates and structures of homicide vary considerably across time and place, homicides involving intimate partners and family members are remarkably persistent and prevalent (UNODC, 2013;Wiener, 2006). A European cross-national investigation illustrates that between 36% (Finland) and 45% (Sweden) of all homicides are domestic homicides, in which the majority of these involve intimate partners (Ganpat et al, 2011;Liem et al, 2013). In other words, IPHs constitute a substantial proportion of homicides in the Western European countries (Corradi & Stockl, 2014), especially in Sweden (Ganpat et al, 2011).…”

Eyewitness identification for multiple perpetrator crimes

“…It is possible that this difference is a result of the different method of measurement between the surveys (i.e., our sample rated proportion of multiple perpetrator crimes on an 11-point scale vs. Hobson et al's 7-point scale), or reflects the greater range in responses (i.e., 0 to 90% in our sample vs. < 10% to 50-60% in the U.K.). Our results are also slightly higher than reported statistics on violent multiple perpetrator crimes, which typically range from 13-17% of homicides in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway and up to 33% of homicides in Canada (Liem et al, 2013;Statistics Canada, 2016). However, available statistics report only violent multiple perpetrator crimes such as homicides, and therefore do not include the non-violent incidents reported by our sample.…”

“…In fact, the rising rate of such crimes appears to be a global phenomenon. For example, in Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands, 13-17% of homicides between 2003 and 2006 involved two or more perpetrators (Liem et al, 2013) while the proportion of homicides with multiple perpetrators in the U.S. reached 20% in 2008 (nearly double that reported in 1980; Cooper & Smith, 2011). These crimes often involve victims or bystanders as eyewitnesses-like the driver and the passerby above-who may be asked to identify multiple suspects related to the multiple perpetrators.…”

“…Although we know a lot about eyewitness memory in general-four decades of research provides a number of insights as to what might have produced a faulty memory of Alan Crotzer -it is fair to say that we do not know much specifically about eyewitness memory for multiple perpetrator crimes. We do know that multiple perpetrator crimes are prevalent around the world and that such crimes are among the most difficult to solve (Dauvergne & Li, 2006;Liem et al, 2013). We also know that nearly two-thirds of surveyed U.K. police report issues and confusion in conducting multiple suspect identification procedures, that eyewitness identification accuracy tends to decrease as the number of perpetrators increases, and that adapted lineup procedures attempting to address this 1 Not their real names identification have had limited success (Hobson, Wilcock, & Valentine, 2012;Horry, Halford, Brewer, Milne, & Bull, 2014).…”

Crime and Economic Downturn: The Complexity of Crime and Crime Politics in Greece since 2009

“…Liem et al 2012). The heightened prevalence of racist violence in contemporary Greece, however, would seem to point in that direction (even though perpetration of homicide against members of ethnoracial minorities does not need to be motivated by the ethnoracial background of the victim).…”