The Worst Offenders in the Provincial Towns: Serious Urban Crime and its Perpetrators in the Early Years of Sweden's Period as a Great Power

Karonen, Petri

doi:10.1080/03468759850115963

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Analogously, Robert Merton's (1938) strain theory inspired historical explanations of violence peaks (Ylikangas, 1991, p. 52). Combining theory and extensive data, this research tradition resulted in multiple publications (see Karonen, 1998aKaronen, , 1998bLindström, 2008;Österberg, 1996;Ylikangas, 1976a;Ylikangas, 1998c, for reflections on past work). However, more recently this type of macro-level historical violence research has been largely replaced by micro-level studies, analysing identities and mentalities in micro-interaction.…”

Section: From Tradition To New Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The downward shift could reflect the rise of the central state and its efforts at internal pacification. A growing number of Crown and municipal officials, and a more efficient legal system, increased social control directly and indirectly, by training local citizens to intervene in conflicts at an early stage, stopping them from escalating into homicidal acts (Karonen, 1998a;Karonen, 1998b; see also Lockwood, 2017). The Finnish increase of the 1690s reflects the famine crisis and serves as a reminder that the state-driven pacification process was not the only factor impacting homicide rates.…”

Section: Comparison Of Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general observation is that the Finnish rate increased in the middle of the century, as did the Swedish, which may reflect the short-term increase in other lethal violence in the aftermath of war (Karonen, 1998b;Karonen, 2012;Sundin, 1992). The final reading reflects the homicide peak during the famine of the 1690s, when single-year peaks reached the levels of 10.9 and 17.6 per 100,000 population in 1696 and 1697.…”

Section: Tentative Comparisons Of Infanticide Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, there are indications that the Turku High Court in practice handed out somewhat harsher penalties for murder or manslaughter in the period 1635-1653 than the other Swedish high courts. Simultaneously, the high courts often changed death penalties into fines and compensations, especially in urban homicides (Karonen, 1998b; see also Chapter 4). The elements of settlements and emphasized pardon as an essential dimension of the higher court order.…”

Section: Appendix B: Missing Data In Early Modern Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also possible that the remote areas of northern Finland were less affected by the centralization of state authority and the professionalization of the legal system. The local community could impact the legal process in many ways due to the still-weak authority, in particular, of the rural judges, the so-called law readers (lagläsare, lainlukija) (Karonen, 1998b;Matikainen, 2002;Thunander, 1993). Another explanation could be that many homicide suspects were able to escape, sometimes with the support of family, friends or even the whole village (Matikainen, 2002).…”

Section: Abbreviationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nordic Homicide in Deep Time: Lethal Violence in the Early Modern Era and Present Times

Kivivuori

Rautelin

Netterstrøm

et al. 2022

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Nordic Homicide in Deep Time draws a unique and detailed picture of developments in human interpersonal violence and presents new findings on rates, patterns, and long-term changes in lethal violence in the Nordics. Conducted by an interdisciplinary team of criminologists and historians, the book analyses homicide and lethal violence in northern Europe in two eras – the 17th century and early 21st century. Similar and continuous societal structures, cultural patterns, and legal cultures allow for long-term and comparative homicide research in the Nordic context. Reflecting human universals and stable motives, such as revenge, jealousy, honour, and material conflicts, homicide as a form of human behaviour enables long-duration comparison. By describing the rates and patterns of homicide during these two eras, the authors unveil continuity and change in human violence. Where and when did homicide typically take place? Who were the victims and the offenders, what where the circumstances of their conflicts? Was intimate partner homicide more prevalent in the early modern period than in present times? How long a time elapsed from violence to death? Were homicides often committed in the context of other crime? The book offers answers to these questions among others, comparing regions and eras. We gain a unique and empirically grounded view on how state consolidation and changing routines of everyday life transformed the patterns of criminal homicide in Nordic society. The path to pacification was anything but easy, punctuated by shorter crises of social turmoil, and high violence. The book is also a methodological experiment that seeks to assess the feasibility of long-duration standardized homicide analysis and to better understand the logic of homicide variation across space and over time. In developing a new approach for extending homicide research into the deep past, the authors have created the Historical Homicide Monitor. The new instrument combines wide explanatory scope, measurement standardization, and articulated theory expression. By retroactively expanding research data to the pre-statistical era, the method enables long-duration comparison of different periods and areas. Based on in-depth source critique, the approach captures patterns of criminal behaviour, beyond the control activity of the courts. The authors foresee the application of their approach in even remoter periods. Nordic Homicide in Deep Time helps the reader to understand modern homicide by revealing the historical continuities and changes in lethal violence. The book is written for professionals, university students and anyone interested in the history of human behaviour.

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