Homicide in Scandinavia: Long-Term Trends and Their Interpretations

Lindström, Dag

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-09705-3_4

Cited by 1 publication

(6 citation statements)

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“…The figure shows that homicide rates were high during the Middle Ages, but started to decrease during the early modern period. The sharpest drop took place roughly between 1650 and 1750 (see also Lindström, 2008;Netterstrøm, 2017a). Even after that, the rates were decreasing, occasionally interrupted by reversal periods.…”

Section: Long-duration Homicide Trends In Northern Europementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Analogously, Robert Merton's (1938) strain theory inspired historical explanations of violence peaks (Ylikangas, 1991, p. 52). Combining theory and extensive data, this research tradition resulted in multiple publications (see Karonen, 1998aKaronen, , 1998bLindström, 2008;Österberg, 1996;Ylikangas, 1976a;Ylikangas, 1998c, for reflections on past work). However, more recently this type of macro-level historical violence research has been largely replaced by micro-level studies, analysing identities and mentalities in micro-interaction.…”

Section: From Tradition To New Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the collision of both integrating and disintegrating forces, homicide started to decrease. At the same time, local and regional variation of violence likely decreased, in contrast to the medieval world (Eisner, 2014;Lindström, 2008;Chapter 5).…”

Section: Historical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have criticized the notion that the homicide drop was a smooth transition from violent to pacified societies (Karonen, 1998a, pp. 160-178;Lindström, 2008). Indeed, the process was never smooth, inevitable and free from friction.…”

Section: Comparison Of Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The long-term decline in Western homicide levels has never been stable but has been punctuated by short-and mediumterm fluctuations in homicide rates (Lindström, 2008;Spierenburg, 2012). Both historical data and recent developments thus show that neither homicide drops nor homicide waves last forever.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Nordic Homicide in Deep Time: Lethal Violence in the Early Modern Era and Present Times

Kivivuori

Rautelin

Netterstrøm

et al. 2022

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Nordic Homicide in Deep Time draws a unique and detailed picture of developments in human interpersonal violence and presents new findings on rates, patterns, and long-term changes in lethal violence in the Nordics. Conducted by an interdisciplinary team of criminologists and historians, the book analyses homicide and lethal violence in northern Europe in two eras – the 17th century and early 21st century. Similar and continuous societal structures, cultural patterns, and legal cultures allow for long-term and comparative homicide research in the Nordic context. Reflecting human universals and stable motives, such as revenge, jealousy, honour, and material conflicts, homicide as a form of human behaviour enables long-duration comparison. By describing the rates and patterns of homicide during these two eras, the authors unveil continuity and change in human violence. Where and when did homicide typically take place? Who were the victims and the offenders, what where the circumstances of their conflicts? Was intimate partner homicide more prevalent in the early modern period than in present times? How long a time elapsed from violence to death? Were homicides often committed in the context of other crime? The book offers answers to these questions among others, comparing regions and eras. We gain a unique and empirically grounded view on how state consolidation and changing routines of everyday life transformed the patterns of criminal homicide in Nordic society. The path to pacification was anything but easy, punctuated by shorter crises of social turmoil, and high violence. The book is also a methodological experiment that seeks to assess the feasibility of long-duration standardized homicide analysis and to better understand the logic of homicide variation across space and over time. In developing a new approach for extending homicide research into the deep past, the authors have created the Historical Homicide Monitor. The new instrument combines wide explanatory scope, measurement standardization, and articulated theory expression. By retroactively expanding research data to the pre-statistical era, the method enables long-duration comparison of different periods and areas. Based on in-depth source critique, the approach captures patterns of criminal behaviour, beyond the control activity of the courts. The authors foresee the application of their approach in even remoter periods. Nordic Homicide in Deep Time helps the reader to understand modern homicide by revealing the historical continuities and changes in lethal violence. The book is written for professionals, university students and anyone interested in the history of human behaviour.

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Section: Long-duration Homicide Trends In Northern Europementioning

confidence: 98%