Randomized experiments in Scandinavian criminal justice: Reviewing the past and looking to the future

Abstract

Randomized controlled trials are reported on with increasing frequency within the criminological literature. This development, which is commonly seen as being a part of a global shift towards evidence-based policies, relies heavily on reviews of American research. However, other regions face distinct challenges and employ distinct policy solutions, potentially undermining the uniformity of this trend. In particular, the Scandinavian nations (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), with distinct penal philosophies, may offer a counter-narrative. Here, we conduct a multi-lingual systematic review of crime-related experiments in Scandinavia. Findings show that only eight experiments with an offending or delinquency outcome were published before 2015, six of which focused primarily on medical or psychological treatments. We suggest this distribution is driven by unique, regional epistemological traditions and conclude by outlining distinctive opportunities for experimental criminology in Scandinavia.

Common Problems! and Common Solutions? — Teaching at the Intersection Between Public Health and Criminology: A Public Health Perspective

“…He refers to examples of studies that were being carried out by criminologists (to answer criminological questions), such as switches to and from daylight saving time to study racial bias, quirks in grant funding formulas to study the effect of police on crime, and natural disasters to study the effect of relocation on desistance from crime [39]. On the other hand, the Andersen and Hyatt review of randomized experiments in Scandinavian criminal justice show that in Europe (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), which have different penal philosophies than the US and a tradition of focusing on rehabilitation, only eight experiments with an offending or delinquency outcome were published before 2015, of which six focused primarily on medical or psychological treatments and argued that such distribution was the result of the unique regional epistemological traditions [40]. Criminologists and public health researchers are expected to increase their use of both interventions and experiments to provide robust evidence of what works best to reduce criminal behavior and crime [39][40].…”

“…On the other hand, the Andersen and Hyatt review of randomized experiments in Scandinavian criminal justice show that in Europe (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), which have different penal philosophies than the US and a tradition of focusing on rehabilitation, only eight experiments with an offending or delinquency outcome were published before 2015, of which six focused primarily on medical or psychological treatments and argued that such distribution was the result of the unique regional epistemological traditions [40]. Criminologists and public health researchers are expected to increase their use of both interventions and experiments to provide robust evidence of what works best to reduce criminal behavior and crime [39][40]. The integration of intervention and experimentation approaches from epidemiology (public health) and criminology may result in a greater theoretical advancement in the understanding of the causes of lethal violence and in practical applications that will help reduce the excess morbidity and mortality due to violence and the public health burden it presents [18-20, 24, 33].…”

Nordic Design

“…58 Despite their long-standing history in the Nordic region generally, we are unaware of any empirical evaluations of the impact of day fines on public safety or community reintegration, likely because the Nordic systems rely so heavily on fines that there are no alternative conditions or policy changes needed to construct a rigorous comparison. 59 What is clear, however, is that economic sanctions, adjusted for individualized impact by days, are pervasive in Sweden. According to Brå (Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention), 60 fines were the primary punishment in 60% of all cases in 2020.…”

Preventing future crime in adolescent drug offenders: A study of differential sanction effects on recidivism

“…Accordingly, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) represent something of a 'gold standard' in criminological research as elsewhere. While the number of RCTs in the criminal justice field has increased over recent decades (Andersen & Hyatt, 2020), simple random assignment of sanctions raises ethical (Boruch, Victor, & Cecil, 2000) and practical (Weisburd, 2000) concerns. Moreover, and relevant to this thesis, "a true experimental research design that is generalizable to a large collective is often unrealistic" (Morris & Piquero, 2013, p. 847).…”