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REPLY. Christoffer Carlsson can cleverly use statistics for his purpose. It refers, among other things, to the Crime Prevention Council and the National Security Survey (NTU): in 2018, 4.1 per cent of boys and men aged 16 to 24 declared having been victims of robbery. For 2019, the figures were 5.5 percent. “This little change” is only 1.4 percentage points, writes Carlsson.
However, there is a large difference between percentage points and percentages, which Carlsson deliberately avoids reporting. The increase is 1.4 percentage points, but 34 percent. If we compare a couple of years back in time, the development looks even worse. From 2017 to 2020, this is a terrible increase in absolute numbers. The number of young men (16-24) who have been robbed has risen from 15,800 to almost 30,000, according to a calculation by researcher Amir Sariaslan, based on data from NTU and Statistics Sweden.
Don’t blame the social climate
The article further problematizes the “social climate”. Unfortunately, this terrible social climate, which can explain so much evil in our time, including that children fear theft. “What is debated” creates insecurity and affects “one’s own experiences,” which means it increases the propensity to report, says Carlsson.
The sudden presence of a lion outside of school should concern all parents, even if the life-threatening animal almost never eats a child.
School Crime Research (SUB) certainly shows that more robbery victims are reporting to the police, but this is probably due to more than just “debate.” What Carlsson doesn’t mention is that, in general, people are more likely to report more serious crimes. Thus, one explanation for more reported thefts may be that the crimes have become more serious and more offensive.
Indications of more serious crimes
The fact is, thefts reported against a person using a firearm have almost doubled since 2013, from 379 to 656 last year. It is one of several indications of a more serious crime. This starkness also explains children’s fear, as SVT’s children’s editorial staff employees attest.
Unfortunately, there are no statistics on theft with serious degrading elements. I write rude because all thefts are by definition degrading, and verbal put-downs or some form of milder violence is common. Aggressive and degrading elements such as more severe violence, urination, undressing, drinking spilled on the victim, and the like, are unusual. In this sense, Carlsson is right.
It is also gratifying that it refers to a journalistic review based on interviews with police officers. Understanding of reality is not always greater among those who spend their days in the quiet reading room of Stockholm University.
Preferably more parliamentary debates on the problem
Therefore, there has not been a wave of humiliations, but the problem is serious. Carlsson questions that the Riksdag held a special debate on the issue this spring. I am asking for one more.
The sudden presence of a lion outside of school should worry every parent, even if the life-threatening animal almost never eats a child. Anyone who wisely points out that Swedish children have always been harmed by animals, in the form of wasps and jellyfish, and that lion attacks are rare exceptions, should not be taken seriously.
Reduction is a criminological sport
Reducing controversial crime problems is, unfortunately, a recognized criminological sport, which still has resistant practitioners. Mainly from the Department of Criminology at Stockholm University. Christoffer Carlsson, PhD at the same university, is a name for the future in this regard.
We do not know what new criminal phenomenon will draw the attention of the next public debate. Or “suck the oxygen out of the debate,” to talk to Carlsson. Perhaps violent robberies of people in their homes, perhaps the increase in torture killings. However, we can be sure of one thing; Criminologists will make bold new posts debating that the situation is not that dangerous and that it is wiser to focus on something else.
By Fredrik Kärrholm
Police, criminologist and current with the book “Gangster violence”
