Penal sanctions

Penal sanction: Each individual penal sanction against one physical or legal person, made legally enforceable and registered during the statistical year. Thus, for persons with more than one sanction during a year, each sanction is counted.

Sanctions refers here only to ticket fines (including on the spot fine), transfers to mediation service, waivers of prosecution or a court sentence on fine, community sentence, juvenile sanction, prison, special sanctions, loss of right, deferment of sentencing or waiver of sentencing.

Criminal count: The individual offense for which a reaction has been imposed (corresponds to the unit charge in the statistics on investigated offenses). In the statistics only used as average per reaction. On-the-spot fines do not have information on the number of criminal counts and the average number of criminal counts for all reactions in total can therefore not be calculated.

Sanctioned person: Each individual physical person registered with at least one sanction during the statistical year. Persons with more than one sanction during a year thus appear only once, represented by the sanction for the most serious offence (see “principal offence” below). Enterprises, organizations, public agencies, and other legal persons are not included.

Sentencing: Days for subsidiary, conditional and unconditional prison, NOK for fines, and hours for community sentence.

Classification of offences

Offence is in the crime statistics defined as a violation of the law which at the time of the act was punishable. In the digital registers used a basis for the statistics on sanctions (SSP, BOT, SIRI), about 660 different codes are in use for registering offences committed today. The statistics on sanctions are following the Statistics Norway’s’ standard classification of these codes into group and/or type of principal offence.
Following the Penal Code of 2005 coming into effect on 1 October 2015, around 430 new codes were introduced into the police’ registration system for offences. These replaced the codes from the Penal Code of 1902. Consequentially, Statistics Norway now uses the new version of Standard for types of offences, Type of offence 2015, to classify both old and new codes. From the release of the year 2015 and onwards, the statistics thus contain the following breakdown of offences (see “Standard classification” below for more info):

Group of offence is a division of offences into nine main groups. These groups of offences are further divided into more specified types of offences.

Type of offence is a division of offences into about 150 unique types. Similar types of offences are grouped together to aggregated levels, where all levels are included in the nine groups of offences.

Category of offence was a classification of offences used in the statistics since the early 19th century (“justice” vs. “police cases”) up until 2014, where offences were classified as either a crime (felony) or a misdemeanor. For more information on this expired classification, see the version Types of offences 2006 in Klass and About the statistics for Sanctions 2014.

Principal offence: If a sanction includes several offences, it is registered by the offence which by law carries the highest maximum sentence. Persons registered with more than one sanction during the year, will be represented by the sanction with the principal offence which by law carries the highest maximum sentence. If several offences has the same sentencing frame, the offence committed latest is chosen.

Information about the sanctions

Type of judicial authority is the authority responsible for the final decision with legal force in a case: Prosecution authority and the court (further divided into City and district courts, Lower courts of appeal, and the Supreme court).

Type of sanction is a classification of the different penal sanctions based on the judicial authority and the content of the sanction.

The types of sanctions decided by the prosecution authority (or civil servant with delegated authority to fine) are:

• Transfer to the National Mediation Service (The Criminal Procedure Act section 71a)
• Waiver of prosecution (The Criminal Procedure Act section 69)
• On the spot fine (only for less serious traffic- and customs offences)
• Ticket fine

The five main types of sanctions decided by the court are:

• Fine
• Community sentence
• Conditional imprisonment
• Unconditional imprisonment
• Special sanctions and other type of sanction

“Special sanctions and other type of sanction” includes the sub-types preventive detention, compulsory health care sentence, compulsory care sentence and “other type of sanction”. “Other type of sanction” includes loss of rights, juvenile sentence, loss of right, and sentence delay (cf. prosecution conditionally dropped), but these are not specified in the statistics.

A court can also give some of these sanctions in combination, then represented by the principal (most severe) sanction in the statistics. By combining type of sanction and sentencing (assessment of sentence given in prison days and amount of fine), these combinations can be shown in more detail.

More about the types of punishments and other penal sanctions

Settled in mediation service means the prosecuting authority has transferred the case to the National Mediation Service (The Criminal Procedure Act section 71a) and that the case has been handled by the Mediation Service (the Mediation Service Act, Chapter IV). This includes the three types of treatment: 1) mediation, 2) follow-up and 3) youth follow-up.

Waiver of prosecution without conditions, or unconditional waiver of prosecution, means that the prosecuting authority chooses not to prosecute a person even if criminal guilt is "considered proven" (Criminal Procedure Act section 69, 1st paragraph). Waiver of prosecution by section 70 of the Criminal Procedure Act is not included in this category.

Conditional waiver of prosecution means that even though guilt is proved, further sanctioning is not carried out if certain conditions are adhered to during a fixed period (Criminal Procedure Act section 69, 2nd and 3rd paragraph). Normally this means a probationary period of two years where no new offences should be committed. Further special conditions could be given, such as drug testing or follow-up program for juvenile offenders (see “subtype of sanction”).

Fine is a financial punishment. The courts issues judicial fines. The prosecuting authority can issue a ticket fine as a penal order (some times called "optional penalty writ", se section 255 in this translation of the Criminal Procedure Act from the University of Oslo). Certain civil servants within the police and customs can also issue an on-the-spot fine (fixed rate, simplified optional penalty writ). Accepting a ticket (or on-the-spot) fine have the same consequenses as a judicial fine, such as a subsidiary prison sentence being set in case the person is unable to pay. However, on-the-spot-fines are not registered in the police's sentral Reaction Register. A fine can in certain cases also be conditional, see “subtype of sanction”.

Community sentence replaced in in March 2002 the earlier community service. The sanction can consist of unpaid work that is a benefit for the community as well as other programs, mediation or treatment, etc. for up to 420 hours. A subsidiary prison sentence is also decided. Sentences to community service, that can appear in later statistical years if the offence was committed before March 2002, are classified as Community sentence.

Conditional imprisonment (suspension of execution) means that one avoids serving the given sentence if, during a fixed period, the court's conditions are adhered to. Normally this means a probationary period of two years where no new offences should be committed. Further terms could be given, such as drug testing or follow-up program for juvenile offenders (see “subtype of sanction”).

Unconditional imprisonment means that the sentence must be served, primarily in prison. In some cases, all or part of the sentence of imprisonment is considered to have been served in a previous remand prison. As a general rule, the Execution of Sentences Act allows for release on probation when two thirds of the sentence have been served, but a minimum of two months. A subsidiary prison sentence is also decided. The Prison and Probation Service can also decide whether the imprisonment is to be carried out in whole or in part outside prison (see also the statistics on prisons).

Preventive detention was introduced in January 2002 as a formal punishment for persons who are considered accountable for their acts. This sanction involves imprisonment and can be prolonged indefinitely, but only for five years at a time. A time frame is set by the court, which usually corresponds to the length of an unconditional prison sentence if that had been sentenced instead. In addition, a minimum time can be set, that corresponds to 2/3 of the time frame. In new tables for years from and including 2019, the time frame is given as days of unconditional imprisonment. However, preventive detention can be extended as long as there is a high risk of new offences and the person is considered a danger to society.

Compulsory mental health care and Compulsory care was introduced in January 2002 as new special sanctions for persons considered unaccountable for their acts. People who are considered psychotic or unconscious can be sentenced to compulsory mental health care and people considered severely mentally retarded can be sentenced to compulsory care. The sentenced person is left to the healthcare system. There is no time limit, but the person should be released if there no longer is danger of relapse.

Youth sentence was introduced in July 2014 as a new type of penal sanction for offenders under 18 years old. Youth sentence can be given by a court as an alternative to unconditional imprisonment when a juvenile has committed serious or repeated offences. The court sets a time of implementation and a subsidiary prison sentence, but the exact content of the punishment is decided by a meeting at the Meditation Service.

Other sanction

Loss of right is a form of punishment that includes both loss of right to hold a position, practice an activity, as well as ban against contacting a certain person.

Deferral of sentencing is a sanction issued by court similar to conditional imprisonment or conditional fine, but with no specifation of type of sanction if conditions are broken (cf. prosecution conditionally dropped).

Waiver of sentencing was introduced as a new penal sanction in the Penal Code of 2005 (in force in 2015) which can be imposed by a court. This means no sanction beyond confirmation of guilt (cf. waiver of prosecution without conditions). Waiver of sentencing is only included in new tables with figures back to 2019.

In cases where the older form of special sanction security detention was given without combination with unconditional prison, these are categorized under Other type of sanction.

Subtype of sanction:

In new tables with figures back to 2019 more detailed information is given on the sanction with the classification variable «subtype of sanction». The subtypes include various special conditions, loss of rights and conditional fines. Where a sanction has several subtypes, a subtype is set according to the following ranking:

• Youth supervision is not a separate type of punishment but can be given as a transfer to mediation service or set as a special condition for other sanctions. In content and process, juvenile follow-up is similar to youth sentence (the Mediation Service Act, Chapter IV), but with a shorter implementation time and less intrusive measures as part of the youth plan.
• Drug-treatment program under court control (ND) is a special condition that can be given with a conditional sentence. In order to be sentenced to ND, the convicted person must be considered drug-addicted and have committed a crime due to, or to finance, illegal drug-use. The court follows up the convicted person through the execution of the sentence and controls the progression in the rehabilitation.
• Anti-intoxicated-driving program (PRK) is a special condition that can be given with a conditional sentence. The implementation time (deadline) at PRK is usually 10 months and the program include individual discussions every 14 days, group meetings (a total of 20-30 hours) and mapping of treatment needs.
• Other special conditions are listed in sections 35-37 of the Penal Code and may include, among other things, payment of compensation, to avoid contact with specified persons, abstain for drugs or alcohol, or mediation.
• Restraining orders is a loss of rights (Section 57 of the Penal Code) which may include a ban on staying certain places or visits and contact with certain persons. Such a ban can be implemented with electronic control (EK), also called reverse violence alarm (OVA).
• Other loss of rights includes loss of the right to occupy a position or engage in an enterprise or activity (Section 56 of the Penal Code).
• Conditional fine can be imposed as a ticket fine or a judiciary fine and will, like other conditional reactions, have a probationary period, as well as any special conditions (Section 53 of the Penal Code). Only cases without special conditions are listed as a separate subtype of reaction in the statistics, while those with special conditions are counted under the respective type of special conditions (e.g. youth supervision). With the new Penal Code of 2005, conditional fines was limited to perpetrators under 18 years of age. From June 2022, conditional fines will also be possible for persons over the age of 18 who have committed a use-related narcotic drug offense.

Information about the persons

Sex: For persons registered with valid national identity number, information about sex is taken from the National Population Register. For persons not found in this register (through national identity number or name), information about sex is taken from the relevant sanction register. However, in the register for on-the-spot-fines (SIRI) there are no information on sex.

Age: A person's age is defined as his/her age at the time of the offence (latest possible) for principal offence. If information about the time of the offence is missing, age at the time of sentence is used. For on-the-spot-fines there is only information about date of legal force (which varies from date of offence if the fine was given by a traffic enforcement camera).

Citizenship: For persons registered with valid national identity number, information about citizenship is taken from the National Population Register. For persons not found in this register (through national identity number or name), information about citizenship is taken from the relevant sanction register. However, in the register for on-the-spot-fines (SIRI) there is no information on citizenship.

Criminal record: Every sanction against a person with one or more previously registered sanctions in the Criminal Record Registry (even during the same statistical year) is classified as “previous registered in the Criminal Record Registry”. Only persons with a sentence in the Criminal Record Registry are checked for criminal record this way, thus termed “all with clarified registration in the Central Criminal Register”. The criteria for registration in this central registry are that the sanction include imprisonment, community service or a special sanction, loss of rights or postponed sentencing. Fines and prosecution conditionally dropped are only registered if the offence was a crime (felony).

Because of new rules for registration in the new sanction register, the tables on criminal record have not been continues after 2015.

Group of offence (new from 2015)

Type of offence (new from 2015)

County (place of residence)

Citizenship and Continents

Sex

Age: By single year or by the criminal statistics standard for age groups (in the most detailed cases 15-17, 18-20, 21-24, 25-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60+).