Fewer victims of theft, but more children exposed

ThiefThief.Photo: Sara Johannessen / SCANPIX

A total of 149 000 persons were registered as victims of offences in 2016.

 

With a continued decline in victims of theft, the total number of victims is the lowest in the 13 years of this type of statistics. However, more children are registered as victims of violent and sexual offences.

 

In 2016, 47 percent of all offences reported to the police are registered with persons as victims, and fewer offences are registered against both persons and enterprises than in all previous years of the statistics on victims.

The levels of both of these victim types are mainly influenced by the large decrease in property theft reported to the police. Property theft now makes up half of all offences both with persons and enterprises as victims.

The number offences without registered victims is also lower than in all previous years, and the variations for such offences is largely connected to police reported offences, especially traffic and drug and alcohol offences.

 

Lowest level of crime victims

In 2016, 149 000 persons were registered as victims of 159 500 offences. This equals 2.9 per cent of the Norwegian population reporting being a victim of an offence in 2016. When we account for the population growth, the level of persons victimised of crime has been reduced by more than one fourth since 2004.

The lasting trend of large decreases in the number of persons being victimised of property theft continued in 2016.

The number of property theft victims was nearly 10 per cent lower than the year before and as much as 22 per cent lower than in 2014.

The total number of victimised persons thus decreased further in 2016. The decrease was prolonged even though 14 per cent more victims have been registered in the remaining groups of offences since 2014.

For example, 6 500 more persons were victimised of fraud, based on the way this type of offence is defined in the new crime statistics. Also for sexual offences reported to the police, far more victims were reported than in previous years.

New theft statistics following new penal code
In 2016, which is the first “whole” year of the new penal code, a total of 74 700 persons were registered as victims of theft as the principal offence.

More than one in three thefts were classified as theft from the person, and of these 28 500 victims, one in five were victims of aggravated theft. However, the share of aggravated theft is smaller than in previous years, which among other things is due to the definition of aggravated theft in the new penal code.

 

Source: SSB / Norway Today