Nordic Journal of Criminology

doi: 10.1080/14043850902884863pmid: N/A

Kivivuori, Janne; Salmi, Venla

doi: 10.1080/14043850902814530pmid: N/A

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of students who are placed in special needs education (SNE) groups within the school system. Consistent with this international trend, the percentage of Finnish students in SNE groups rose from 2.9% to 7.7% from 1995 to 2006. The inclusion of SNE groups in school-based delinquency research has become a salient issue for methodological adequacy. In the Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study, which is an indicator system with repeated measurements, SNE groups have been included. In this methodological article, we use the Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study (FSRD) 2001 sweep to analyse the relevance of that inclusion. First, we analyse the contribution of SNE students to the prevalence and incidence estimates of delinquency. Second, we examine how the inclusion or exclusion of SNE students influences observations of the correlates of delinquent behaviour. The results indicate that the population estimates of the overall delinquency prevalence are not seriously compromised by SNE exclusion. In contrast, incidence estimation is highly susceptible to the inclusion or exclusion of SNE groups. Students placed in SNE have higher prevalence of known risk factors of delinquency, such as disadvantaged social and familial backgrounds. Their inclusion in research appears to have relevance for the analysis of risk factors of delinquency.

Wästerfors, David

doi: 10.1080/14043850902814522pmid: N/A

The tense relationship between ‘troublesome youth’ and conventional society does not end with incarceration or institutional treatment. Rather, it is transformed into an abundance of interpersonal conflicts within incarceration and treatment. This article uses an interactionist perspective to critically assess five research approaches that account for these phenomena in various ways: 1) quarrels as personality disorders, 2) quarrels as deviant subcultures, 3) quarrels as objects of social control, 4) quarrels and the micro-politics of trouble, and 5) quarrels and the sociology of youth and children. It is argued that an empirically open interactionism within and across the latter four approaches should be sharpened in order to better grasp the social nature and shifting emergence of quarrels in institutional treatment.

Burcar, Veronika; Åkerström, Malin

doi: 10.1080/14043850902815073pmid: N/A

This article is based on an interview study of how 10 young male crime victims talk about violent events and actors involved. It focuses on how the young men present their identities as ‘young men’ who have been victims of violent crimes. In their narrations the men struggle with a cultural understanding that ‘masculinity’ is associated with strength and power, while ‘victim’ is associated with weakness and impotence. During the interviews the young men actualize several balancing acts in their presentation of themselves as men and victims in a delicate manner by use of specific word choice, manner of speaking, laughter, etc. The young men are negotiating a victim identity; they portray themselves by careful positioning as both victims and strong, active young men. By this discursive balancing of identities the young men present themselves as manly at the same time as they present themselves as victims. In collaboration with the interviewer the participants negotiate how they want to be known: as ‘victim-worthy’ young men, with associations to a ‘hegemonic manliness’.

Drugge, Ulf

doi: 10.1080/14043850902815099pmid: N/A

Four domestic murder cases of a fairly similar character are described: a man killing his child or children, and in one case also his wife. They occurred in three neighbouring rural parishes in northern Sweden in the mid-nineteenth century within a period of about 20 years. The four offenders showed all the signs of being seriously mentally deranged. Three of them made either unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide or expressed the intention of committing suicide. The motives of the offenders contain elements of a father's wanting to spare his children from social, economic, or religious suffering. The key question is why the outcomes of the similar cases differed. Legal, religious, medical, and some popular, normative standards are considered. As well as elements used in the medico-legal examinations, other considerations obviously contributed to the different outcomes, such as the various backgrounds of the offenders and whether they showed regret or not in court. The different outcomes illustrate a recurring problem, namely how to reconcile ideas emanating from various professional traditions and standards. This is of current interest as evidenced by the number of recent cases where a legal way of thinking is sometimes contrary to prevalent medical ones.