Offences and victims reported to the police, 2017

National level, and by county, police district and municipality.

Annually. Published as soon as possible after the end of the statistical year, normally before the end of the first quarter in the consecutive year.

Some statistics are reported to international bodies such as the UN , the EU and Eurostat .

Raw data files from the Norwegian Police ICT Services (formerly the National Police Computing and Material Service (PDMT)) for the annual files are stored permanently in a secured archive area. Raw data files for half-yearly statistics were only kept until they were replaced by final annual files. Annual files from 2004 are also used for the production of statistics on registered victims, and are also stored under this statistics area. The final processed data material (i.e. the material prepared and used in the statistics production) is stored as separate archive files and documented (in the system DataDok). The annual files that are used for the statistics production are also stored as SAS files, until they are no longer used.

Based on the statistics on offences reported to the police, Statistics Norway aims to throw light on the registered level of crime from year to year. The statistics are enabled as a result of a changeover from form reporting to electronic reporting from the police’s central criminal case register (BL/STRASAK, BL/STRASAK/PAL as from 2002). The statistics were first published in the Norwegian official statistics (NOS) for the year 1990.

Since 2004, the statistics on offences reported to the police have only been published as annual statistics. Until 2003, half-yearly statistics were also published, and quarterly statistics were published until 1998.

In 2005, the whole time series 1993 to 2002 was revised (see Control and revision under Production). This particular revision could not be carried out for 1992. Therefore, 1993 is now regarded as the first year of Statistics Norway's statistics on offences reported to the police. The principle division between crimes and misdemeanours has been discontinued in new Penal Code of 2005.

From 2019, the statistics on Offences reported to the police and Victims of offences reported to the police has been merged together as one statistic. Statistics Norway has in the past, in connection with an analysis project, published statistics on offences reported to the police (1995-1998) with information on victims ( Gundersen 2000 , in Norwegian only). However, these two sets of statistics are not directly comparable due to considerable differences in the data basis, processing and definitions of statistical units. The statistics on victims 2004 are therefore regarded as new statistics from Statistics Norway. Statistics on victims of offences reported to the police have been developed and produced under commission by the Ministry of Justice and the Police. The production of statistics based on data for previous statistical years was considered, but has not been carried out for reasons of quality. As from 2009, new variables and regional statistics have been added to the statistics (see Definitions and Comparability over time and space under Background).

The purpose of this project is to map who is exposed to offences and who reports offences to the police, by different demographic background variables and type of offence. By mapping victims and reporters of offences, we wish to form a better basis for describing crime, and simultaneously obtain a wider understanding of the judicial system. Offences that include violations of persons are of special interest and have the best quality of data, and the statistics therefore place a particular focus on these victims and the types of offences they are subjected to.

The statistics are now released with breakdowns of different types of offences which in principle are grouped in the same way as in the penal legislation, and are considered as a Standard of types of offences. Mainly, the standard corresponds to the divisions and terms in the current penal legislation, and classifies all offences included in the penal legislation and the special legislation (see Standard for types of offences in KLASS). From the year 2015 and onwards, the statistics is released with a new version of Standard for types of offences: Types of offences 2015, which is made as a consequence of the Penal Code of 2005 and the corresponding new codes for registering offences in all of the registers relevant to Statistics Norway’s crime statistics. The new standard replaces Standard for types of offences 2006. New breakdowns of offences are for certain tables in the StatBank made available with numbers dating back to 2003.

The principle division between crimes and misdemeanours has been discontinued in new Penal Code of 2005. Thus, from 2015 and onwards, this division is discontinued also in the statistics on offences reported to the police.

Important users are the media, the research and education sector, NGOs, the Ministry of Justice and other government agencies and other agencies in the justice sector. The statistics also serve as a basis for information to anyone else interested in the state and development within the field of crime.

On 1 January 2016, Norwegian police were organised into new regional districts, where 27 police districts were reduced to 12. The internal process of organising the new districts will be executed gradually during the course of 2017 and 2018, but as of year 2016, Statistics Norway will only release statistics by the new police districts in StatBank. The new police districts are mainly organised by merging the former districts, which on an aggregated level are comparable to the former division of 27 districts. However, in the new organisation, the former Midtre Hålogaland PD is divided by the county border between new Nordland PD and Troms PD. Thus, comparisons across the new and former district are not possible for the districts in question. For a detailed overview of the new police districts, including their relation to municipalities, see Statistical Classifications and Code Lists.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of the most important Principles for Equal treatment of users in releasing statistics and analyses .

The statistics on offences and victims reported to the police are one of the four regular principal statistics in the area of Crime and justice . The rest are statistics on Offences investigated , sanctions and imprisonments .

When using crime statistics, it is important to be aware that the various parts do not necessarily refer to the same population of offences within the same year. It can take a long time from an offence is reported to the police to when the investigation is concluded, and until a penal sanction is given and the sentence served; in some cases, it may take years. Generally, however, the offences that are included in the statistics on offences reported to the police in the same year or subsequently are represented in the statistics on offences investigated, sanctions and imprisonments (see the statistics on criminal prosecutions). The units that are included also differ in the various statistics. The tables below offences reported to the police are therefore not directly comparable to the other crime statistics. For an overall presentation of the crime statistics, see Kriminalitet og rettsvesen 2009 (in Norwegian only).

Other closely related statistics from Statistics Norway are: Survey of level of living, victimisation and fear of crime , Statres - Police and prosecution authority , Statistics on causes of death (murder) .

Related external statistics

The National Police Directorate (POD) publishes Kommenterte STRASAK-tall; the police’s report statistics (the individual police districts also publish their own figures for their respective regions). The reports contains figures for offences reported to the police, but must be regarded as operations statistics for the police and should not be interpreted as the official crime statistics. The police figures can vary somewhat from Statistics Norway’s figures based on the timing and criteria for extraction, as well as other processing routines and the groupings of offences in the statistics (see Standard classifications under Definitions).

The Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs investigates cases where employees of the police or prosecuting authority are suspected of committing criminal offences in the course of duty. Offences which are investigated and completed by the Bureau without further prosecution or court proceedings are not included in the data basis for the statistics on offences reported to the police and offences investigated. However, when such cases result in a sanction registered in the Criminal Record Register, they will be included in the statistics on sanctions. Furthermore, such cases are included in the statistics on imprisonments in the same manner as other criminal cases. A closer look at the offences registered by the Bureau in 2016 show that the vast majority of cases concern different types of misconduct and misuse of public authority (which in Statistics Norway’s crime statistics are classified as part of the group of offence Public order and integrity violations). The Bureau also investigates several other types of offences, including offences of violence and traffic offences.

The Bureau is an independent body, and is not organised as part of the police. The Bureau is administratively under the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and professionally under the Director of Public Prosecutions (which also functions as the body of appeal for cases where prosecution is dropped and other types of prosecution decisions made by the Bureau). In their annual reports, the Bureau publishes statistics on offences reported and investigated over the course of the year.

Kripos publishes an overview of murders, but these statistics are organised based on a different definition of the sample than in Statistics Norway’s statistics on reported offences (including year of crime and no registration). In a number of cases, it is recommended that users use Kripos’ murder statistics. For 2005/2006 and beyond, Statistics Norway has carried out a review and audit of all murder cases (see Collection of data revision and estimation under Production). Subsequent to these audits, the number of murders is approximately the same in the statistics from Kripos and Statistics Norway. Kripos also publishes statistics on drugs, which include figures for the confiscation of drugs. Although confiscation relates to drug offences reported to the police, it is not possible to make direct comparisons between these figures. The different statistics are available from the police's website for strategies and analysis .

The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS) publishes statistics on various forums, which include figures from Statistics Norway’s statistics on offences reported to the police, primarily in relation to drug offences and driving under the influence (cf. “drunk driving"´). The classification of the offences can, however, differ somewhat from the statistics published by Statistics Norway.

Statistics Act §§ 2-1, 2-2, 3-2 (forms/registers).

Not relevant.

The statistics cover all offences that were registered as reported by the police and the prosecution authority in the course of the statistical year.

The statistics provide information on the type and number of offences, police districts and scene of crime, as well as type of victim, sex and age of victims and place of residence (see Definitions). The statistics do not include violations under the Road Traffic Act and the Customs Act where the sanction is an on the spot fine (see statistics on Sanctions ).

From 1993 to 2014 the statistics contained both crimes and misdemeanours. The principle division between crimes and misdemeanours has been discontinued in new Penal Code of 2005. The definisions of the population and the offences are, however, equal before and after this change in 2015 (see under Defintions and Sources of error and uncertainty).

Where the report includes more than one offence, all matters that can constitute a separate point in the charge/indictment are registered. Prior to 1994/1995, several offences could be registered as one offence (see Comparability over time and space).

The victims part of the statistics includes all with the role of "victim" in all reported offences registered in the course of the statistical year. Each registered offence normally constitutes one unit in the material. Where the report includes more than one offence, all matters that can constitute a separate point in the charge/indictment are registered. The number and type of reported offences in the statistics on victims should be identical to the number and type in the statistics on Offences reported to the police in the same year. Where an offence entails several different victims, all of them are retained for statistical purposes.

The data basis is taken from the police’s central registration system, which covers all offences registered by the police districts (as well as special agencies and higher prosecution authorities) in the police’s databases for handling criminal cases (BL). Registrations in the local BL are transferred to STRASAK, from which Statistics Norway received its data basis extract until 2001. From the statistic years 2001/2002, Statistics Norway has received its data basis from the police’s analysis and leadership system (PAL). PAL contains data on all criminal cases after they have been transferred from STRASAK. The data source for the statistics is referred to as the criminal case register BL/STRASAK/PAL, and contains criminal case data that is transferred between these three systems on an ongoing basis. The Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs investigates cases where employees of the police or prosecuting authority are suspected of committing criminal offences in the course of duty. The Bureau registers cases in a separate registry version of BL/STRASAK/PAL, and these cases are not included in the data basis for the statistics on offences reported to the police (see Coherence with other statistics under Background).

See Sources of error and uncertainty under Sources of error and Definitions.

The data material is retrieved electronically from the Norwegian Police ICT Services in mid-January. The Norwegian Police ICT Services is responsible for the output of data from PAL (see Data sources and sampling). The police and prosecution authority will make subsequent corrections to this caseload after the end of the year, particularly in recently reported cases received immediately before the end of the year. Changes and structural updates in BL/STRASAK/PAL may also be made at the end of the year. The data basis for Statistics Norway is therefore not extracted until about two weeks after the end of the statistics period.

The police registration systems contain some validity controls of data. In addition, Statistics Norway performs its own controls on some of the material. For example, missing information on scene of crime by municipality will be added to the municipality to the degree this is possible based on other information from the data basis. Duplicated (double entries) offences and victims are deleted, illogical valid values (for example dates) are revised or deleted.

Since 2005/2006, all murder cases have been controlled and revised (case by case) against information from Kripos (which at the end of the year has, for statistical purposes, retrieved data on all murder cases from the districts) and other register data from the Norwegian Police ICT Services.

From the statistic year 2011, all of the cases that were settled by the International Police Immigration Service (PU) during the year were deleted (which equates to around 500 offences in 2011). This has led to a relatively large reduction in the category "Special body" in the statistics that distributes the reported offences by police district, and fewer units in "Other crimes". For the previous years with PU-registrations (2005-2010), it was not possible for Statistics Norway to make this deletion of civil cases.

The statistics dating back to 1993 were completely revised in 2005. The reason for deleting cases at that time was that some cases were transferred from one police district to another. In such transfers, the same report had been registered in both police districts, meaning that they were double entries in STRASAK/PAL. The revision was carried out using information registered by the police itself and from the original data basis for the different years of the offences reported to the police. Where an offence had been registered several times, only the first registration was retained (see Comparability over time and space).

An overview of all controls and Statistics Norway's processing routines for the statistics up to the first half of 2002 is available in Notater 2000/13 "Statistikk over anmeldte lovbrudd og registrerte ofre. Dokumentasjon" (in Norwegian only).

Based on the data from the police’s registers, all offences reported to the police are included, with a specification of characteristics such as type of offence and scene of crime. Calculations of percentages and rates per 1 000 inhabitants are made, also for different regions. In the annual statistics, the population as of 1 January in the statistics year is used, and in statistics that use a two-year average, the population on 1 January in the latter of the two statistic years is used (cf. the statistics on population). For more detailed information on concepts, variables and classifications, see Definitions.

The number of unique victims (persons) registered as a victim of one or more offences during the year, and the number of these persons with different characteristics, such as age, place of residence and number of offences they have been subjected to. For victims subjected to more than one offence during the year, the principal offence is attributed based on an approximate indicator on the basis of the minimum and maximum sentences, as well as other criminal procedure characteristics of the offence.

The number of unique victims of violence and maltreatment, and the number of these victims with different characteristics, such as age. For victims subjected to more than one incicent of violence and maltreatment during the year, the principal offence is used (as for victim above).

The number of unique victims of property theft, and the number of these persons with different characteristics, such as age. For victims subjected to more than one property theft during the year, the principal offence is used (as for victim above).

In addition, calculations of percentages and rates per 1 000 inhabitants are made (also for different ages, genders and regions). All rates per 1 000 inhabitants are calculated with figures for the population as of 1 January in the statistics year (see the population statistics . As a general rule, age is calculated based on date of birth and the date the offence was committed (see Definitions of the main concepts and variables under Definitions).

Not relevant

The statistics contain personal data and information on punishable offences that is considered to be highly sensitive. Statistics Norway therefore administers the data basis for crime statistics with great caution.

The statistics are primarily published at a higher regional level (in total and the whole country), and when classified at lower levels (county and municipal) the offences are only published in larger categories – e.g. by group of offence.

Marking cells with few units is not normally necessary on account of anonymity (and neither is it normally done in other crime statistics that are published using the same principles). When releasing statistics with few units, the protection of privacy is, however, considered on a case by case basis. In the statistics on offences reported to the police classified by municipality, in addition to a two-year average, a lower limit has been set for the number of units in the release (fewer than 5). The choice of groups and lower level of detail, as well as exclusion by marking categories with few units, is also made based on an assessment of the data quality and the statistics’ suitability for comparison over time and place (see Coherence with other statistics under Background).

There are many factors that can have a bearing on comparability over time and place in the various crime statistics, and a broader explanation of the problem here is given in Kriminalitet og rettsvesen 2009 (in Norwegian only).

Annual statistics on offences reported to the police are, subject to changes in registration practice and mergers of police districts, comparable from 1993 (see Chapter 5). Quarterly figures were published from 1991 to 1999, and half-yearly statistics from 1999 to 2003, in addition to annual statistics. Since 2004, Statistics Norway has only published annual statistics. The revision of all years dating back to 1993 (carried out in 2005, see Offences reported to the police. 1993-2001. Revised figures. ) was only for the annual statistics, and no new tables were created for the police districts (owners) in the years 1993-2001 or for scene of crime (county) in the years 1993-2000.

Many regional standards are very stable over a long period of time, but regroupings of these also occur – which in some cases is a determining factor in the content of the statistics. One example of a directly visible change took place after the reorganisation and 50 % reduction in police districts in 2002. Most of the districts were given a new name and new geographic borders, and it is almost impossible to compare the content in both the data basis and the statistics that are classified according to the old and new geographic areas (see Offences investigated 2002 ).

On 1 January 2016, Norwegian police were organised into new regional districts, where 27 police districts were reduced to 12. The internal process of organising the new districts will be executed gradually during the course of 2017 and 2018, but as of year 2016, Statistics Norway will only release statistics by the new police districts in StatBank. The new police districts are mainly organised by merging the former districts, which on an aggregated level are comparable to the former division of 27 districts. However, in the new organisation, the former Midtre Hålogaland PD is divided by the county border between new Nordland PD and Troms PD. Thus, comparisons across the new and former district are not possible for the districts in question. For a detailed overview of the new police districts, including their relation to municipalities, see Statistical Classifications and Code Lists.

Changes in regional standards that are not directly visible take place when, for instance, a municipality changes over to a different county, when two municipalities merge or when a municipality has population changes that result in a different classification in size of municipality (see Definitions).

The most central changes in the police’s registration system and practice that are of significance to the development of offences reported to the police took place around 1994 and in 2002.

New registration practice from 1994/1995

Where a report includes more than one offence, all matters that can constitute a separate point in the charge/indictment are registered. This has been the practice since 1994/1995. Prior to this, the practice was that only one offence was registered when:

• More than one offence was committed in one act against one victim. The most serious was registered.
• More than one of the same type of offence was committed by the same person within a period of time against one victim.
• One offence was committed against a group of victims.
• The first offence was committed in order to pave the way for the second.

However, more than one offence was registered when an offence was committed with the purpose of hiding another offence, which was also the practice after 1994/1995.

STRASAK has, for a long time, been under development with regard to quality assurance and registration details. This development has led to the data basis for the statistics containing more information than previously. The transition in 1994/1995 to registering all offences is of the greatest significance, and resulted in the number of offences reported to the police increasing in the statistics without this necessarily being related to more offences actually being reported.

Changes to STRASAK in 2002

Towards the end of 2002, the police’s criminal case register, STRASAK, underwent a major change. There are three factors in particular that have a specific bearing on the statistics on offences reported to the police:

1) Merging of police districts; as from 1 January 2002, the former 54 police districts were merged into 27 police districts. This means that the procedure of adding a value for the municipality of crime (see above) can be applied with a fewer number of police districts.

2) Duplicate registrations; In October2002, acentral serial number instead of the previous local serial number was introduced. In the long term, this will ensure that transferred cases will no longer be re-registered in the new police district, and such duplicate registrations (see Collection of data revision and estimations) will be reduced from 2003.

3) Scene of crime abroad; some offences reported to the police are committed abroad, but some are reported inNorway. Prior to 2002, no information on these was available in the material for the crime statistics. These offences were therefore previously included in the statistics and allocated a municipality of crime or county of crime according to the routine described above. As from 2002, it is possible to identify these offences, and they have been retained in the statistics with the scene of crime given as abroad.

Municipality statistics

As from 2010, Statistics Norway publishes detailed municipality statistics on offences reported to the police (2007-2008). Statistics Norway has also previously published statistics on offences reported to the police in the individual municipalities of crime ( Styrings- og informasjonshjulet 2008 (in Norwegian only). Old (2003-2004 to 2006-2007) and new statistics are relatively similar and relatively comparable for the categories that have the same type of basis and classification. Due to the quality of the data, however, we have decided not to publish new figures for districts for the sample boroughs.

When using statistics at such a level of detail, it must be borne in mind that there may be great variation, particularly for the municipalities and groups of offences with few cases. Data quality and registration method, particularly in major cases, vary and can lead to considerable differences between otherwise identical municipalities – and from year to year. In both the new and old statistics, certain consideration has been given to this type of statistical random variation by creating a two-year average, but only for the largest groups of offences and the municipalities that have more than four units.

Introduction of the new penal code on 1 October 2015

After the new penal code (Penal Code of 2005) came into effect on 1 October 2015, the raw data from the police registers are changed. There are quite distinct differences in structure, language and content between the Penal Code of 1902 and the Penal Code of 2005, which is even more evident in the corresponding codes used for registering offences in the police’ central registration system. Code connected to both the new and the former penal code is used after 1 October 2015, due to the new legislation not having retroactive effect. Offences may be registered and processed long after they have been committed. This means that the Penal Code of 1902 and 2005 will appear in the data of all crime statistics for many years to come.

Criminal cases with violations of the provisions dating before the introduction of the new penal code (registered by former codes and appellation), will not always be possible to specify and classify in the same way as criminal cases with a violation of a corresponding provision from the Penal Code of 2005. Certain types of offences in Standard for types of offences 2015 will therefore exclusively contain violations of offences stemming from new penal legislation, and mainly consist of offences committed after 1 October 2015. In the standard, these will be indicated with “(from 1.10.2015)” in the classification name. Older offences which cannot be specified in the same way are placed in “other or unspecified” types of offences. The content of the statistics – and the possibilities of doing comparisons on the most detailed levels of the standard – will for certain types of offences therefore be mainly based on offences committed after 1.10.2015. This type of break in the time series will vary over time for the different types of offences, depending on which crime statistics you use. When such breaks in the time series are identified, the general recommendation is to use figures on a more aggregated level, which means less specified figures with a smaller degree of time series break. Se Standard for type of offences 2015 in KLASS and the article “The New Crime Statistics” (in Norwegian only).

Other changes

Releases from 2005 and onwards use the figure as per 1 January in the statistics year in calculations where population figures are included in the statistics on offences reported to the police (as opposed to previously, when the figure as per 31 December in the statistics year was used). This will be the practice for all statistics released from this point in time, also for previous years.

As from 1 January 2005, Kripos and the PU can register and investigate their own criminal cases. The category “special body" was therefore introduced in the statistics from 2005, classified by police district. This category includes the new district units, together with Økokrim (which has been included in the statistics since 1995).

Changes to legislation that affect the content of the statistics directly and considerably shall, as far as Statistics Norway is aware of such changes, be highlighted in the tables in the years where such changes have taken place – and where this is relevant to corresponding statistics over time. For examples of this, see Offences reported to the police 2006 (for example on the abolition of the Vagrancy Act).

Since the statistics year 2005/2006, all murder cases have been controlled and revised (case by case) against information from Kripos and register data from the Norwegian Police ICT Services (see Collection of data revision and estimations). Some cases have subsequently been changed from “other type of case" to “reported murder", but the opposite has occurred more often. After this revision, the murder figures can therefore be somewhat lower than previous years.

Merger of the offence and victim statistics from 2019

From 2019, the statistcs on Offences reported to the police and Victims of offences reported to the police are data processed, quality assured and published as one statistic. Compared to previous years, certain adjustments are made in the data processing. These changes include the choosing of offence code in cases where an offence is registered with more than one offence code, as well as the choosing of the principal offence for victims (persons) in cases where a person has plural victimisatons of offences with equal severity. However, these changes will only affect offence codes (and age) in a maximum of one hundred cases, are are therefore not considered as a break in the time series.

Subject to subsequent changes, more detailed information on both the old and the new data basis, variables and definitions are described in Notater 2000/13 “Statistics on offences reported to the police and registered victims. Documentation” (in Norwegian only). StatisticsNorway has relatively comprehensive documentation of the data basis and the statistics on the individual years, and information on this can be obtained from the contact persons specified for the statistics.