[Previous] [Contents] [Next]
Weekly Bulletin issue no. 44, 1997 <sti>Stikktittel

Sanctions in crime cases, 1996:

More and more crimes are settled by fines

One out of every three criminal sanctions was settled with a fine in Norway in 1996. Never before has such a high percentage of fines been recorded in criminal cases. The average fine was NOK 3,760. Amounts varied according to type of crime and were highest in cases involving economic crime. Compared to men, women received fines more often than imprisonment. On the other hand, women who received unsuspended prison sentences were given long terms.
The number of criminal sanctions in 1996 totalled 18,200, up three per cent from the year before. More than one in three sanctions took the form of economic punishment, i.e. a fine or penalty, and an equal number involved unsuspended sentences. One in four criminal sanctions was a suspended sentence and one in 20 was community service.

Fines alone accounted for 32 per cent of criminal sanctions in 1996. For 1996 the percentage was 31 per cent and five years earlier it was 27 per cent. Ten years ago, fines made up only 14 per cent of criminal sanctions. During the same period the use of prison sentences went down from 73 per cent of criminal sanctions in 1986 to 69 per cent in 1991 and 60 per cent in 1996.

Gender differences

Thirteen per cent of the criminal sanctions in 1996 were given to women. In 1995 women accounted for 12 per cent of the sanctions, compared to nine per cent both five and 10 years ago. The sanction pattern is different for women and men. Suspended sentences are the most common form of sanction for women, while unsuspended prison sentences are the most common sanction against men. Suspended sentences were given to 36 per cent of the women and to 25 per cent of the men, while unsuspended sentences were handed to 20 per cent of the women and 36 per cent of the men. Fines were the next most common form of sanction for both sexes, with 35 per cent of the women and 31 per cent of the men receiving fines in 1996. Community service sentences accounted for five per cent of the criminal sanctions, with the same percentage for both sexes.

New Statistics

Sanctions in crime cases, 1996.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Criminal Statistics. More information: Torild-Irene B. Kårstad, tel. +47 21 09 47 71, e-mail: tik@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 44, 1997