Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Penal sanctions
Topic: Social conditions, welfare and crime
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Next release
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Responsible division
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Division for Income and social welfare statistics
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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The statistics include two statistical units:
1) Sanction : All sanctions registered during the statistical year. A sanction is a ticket fine (including on the spot fine), prosecution conditionally dropped or sanction with legal efficacy in the form of community sentence, juvenile sanction, unconditional or conditional imprisonment and/or fine, sentence delay, preventive detentions, compulsory mental health care sentences or compulsory care sentence. Sanctions are crossed with e.g. type of sanction, type of offence, sentencing, type of judicial authority, age, sex and citizenship. Since each sanction counts as one unit, each sanction against an offender during the year is counted in the statistics.
2) Sanctioned persons : All persons registered with at least one sanctions during the statistical year. These persons are among other things presented by sex, age, place of residence and citizenship. Enterprises and other juridical units may also be given sanctions, but are not included in the statistics on sanctioned persons. Persons with more than one sanction during a year appear only once, represented by the sanction that includes the offence that carries the highest maximum sentence.
Specification of units and variables:
Offence : In the criminal statistics, an offence is defined as acts which at the time of the crime is considered as punishable. In the Norwegian Central Criminal Record and Police Information System (SSP), about 600 different codes are used for registering offences. The statistics on offences published by Statistics Norway are grouped by group of offence and type of offence; which are official standards for classification of offences.
Group of offence : Standard classification of all offences by ten main groups, when divided into its most detailed version. Group of offence is an official standard used by other government agencies.
Type of offence : Mainly, the classification type of offence follows the chapters and paragraphs of the Penal Code, and distinguishes between crimes and misdemeanours in special legislation. In Statistics Norway’s criminal statistics, type of offence is the most detailed classification of offences, and depending on the scope of the statistical unit in each table, two different specifications of this variable are applied. In statistics on Sanctions, use of the most specified version is expanded from 2012 and onwards. The type of offence classification is a standard developed by Statistics Norway, and is not in any significant scope used for statistical purposes by others. This in spite of some levels of similarity between Statistics Norway and for instance the Police’s definitions of certain types of offences.
Category of offence : A classification of all offences by crimes and misdemeanours. This is not to be regarded as a separate standard, since crimes and misdemeanours are included in the statistics using the standard for type of offence (see above). This two-tier classification of all punishable acts is stipulated in the current Norwegian penal legislation and this legal distinction is mainly used for statistical purposes and by parties other than Statistics Norway. A crime is normally a punishable act of a more serious nature than a misdemeanour. Crimes and misdemeanours under the Penal Code are referred to in the second and third part of the act respectively. According to Section 2 of the Penal Code, punishable acts described in other laws are crimes if they carry a sentence of more than three months' imprisonment, unless otherwise decided. Other punishable acts are misdemeanours. Some types of offences (e.g. criminal damage and some special laws) can, by law, be both a crime and a misdemeanour. Whether the individual act is a misdemeanour or crime appears in the statistics on type of offence. In the crime statistics, both crimes and misdemeanours are treated as crime, but the main focus is on crimes. "Offences", "punishable acts" and "crime" are used as collective terms for both crimes and misdemeanours.
Principal offence : If a sanction includes several offences, it is registered by the offence that carries the highest maximum sentence. Persons registered with more than one offence during the year, will only be included once in the statistics on sanctioned persons. In such cases, the person is represented by the information in the sanctions which by law carries the most severe maximum sanction.
Age : A person's age is defined as his/her age at the time of the offence. If information about the time of the offence is missing, age at the time of sentence is used.
Type of sanction : The total number of sanctions issued by the Prosecution Authority and the courts, by various variables. Type of sanctions issued by the Prosecution Authority are presented by prosecutions conditionally dropped, ticket fines and on the spot fines for traffic and Duty Act misdemeanours. Type of sanctions pronounced by the courts is presented by fines, community sentence, conditional imprisonment, unconditional imprisonment and special sanctions. These types of court sanctions are further specified in the StatBank, compared to categories in earlier publications.
Type of judicial unit : The type of authority issuing or pronouncing the legally valid sanction. Statistics distinguishes between the Prosecution Authority and the courts (District Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court).
Criminal record : Every person with one or more previously registered entries in the Criminal Record Registry. This means that the sanctioned person one time or more during his/her lifetime has been sanctioned by imprisonment, community service or a special sanction, or has been sanctioned to loss of rights or postponed sentencing. Having committed at least one crime and having been issued a ticket fine/fine, or prosecution conditionally dropped, also counts as a previous entry. The StatBank tables with this variable from 2011 and onwards therefore inhibits slights differences compared to corresponding tables prior to 2011. Previous tables are limited to sanctions in crime cases only, whereas new tables include every previous entry in the Criminal Record Registry, regardless of being crimes or misdemeanours.
Sex : This variable is mapped out by using two different data sources. For persons registered with valid national identity number, the person’s sex is determined from information in the National Population Register. For unidentifiable persons (by national identity number or name), the person’s sex is determined from information registered in Norwegian Central Criminal Record and Police Information System (SSP) or the Central Registry for Fines (BOT). The data basis from the Register for collection of monetary claims from sanctions (SIRI) under the State Agency for the Recovery of Fines, Damages and Costs, including on the spot fines, does not include information on sex. This means that for any person not identifiable in the National Population Register that is issued an on the spot fine, there will not be any information regarding sex available. This leads to a relatively high share of sanctioned persons with unknown sex in cases of traffic offences and offences for profit.
Citizenship : is defined based on two different data sources. Where there is a match for personal ID numbers in the Central Population Register, the person’s citizenship is derived from this source. For unidentifiable persons (by means of date of birth, personal ID number or name), the persons`s citizenship is determined from the information registered by the police in the Norwegian Central Criminal Record and Police Information System or the central register for fines. The data basis from the SIRI register under the State Agency for the Recovery of Fines, Damages and Costs, including on the spot fines, does not include information on citizenship. This means that for any person not identifiable in the National Population Register that is issued an on the spot fine, there will not be any information regarding citizenship available. This leads to a relatively high share of sanctioned persons with unknown citizenship in cases of traffic offences and offences for profit.
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Standard classifications
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The following of Statistics Norway's internal standards are used:
Category of offence (crime and misdemeanour, see Definitions of the main concepts and variables, and appendix A in NOS Crime Statistics )
Group of offence (10 main groups, cf. appendix B in NOS crime statistics with list of all laws and articles)
Type of offence (cf. appendix A in NOS Crime Statistics with list of all laws and articles). Type of offence (see appendix A in NOS Crime Statistics )
County (place of residence)
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+).