Reino Sirén

Trust in the police, generalized trust and reporting crime

Many researchers have assumed that trust in the police increases victims’ willingness to report crimes. This question has rarely been considered empirically, but most of the available research suggests a surprising conclusion: trust in the police does not appear to increase the likelihood of people reporting crime. The seriousness of the crime and, in particular, the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator do have a significant impact on willingness to report. An especially interesting and influential factor may be mutual trust between citizens, which researchers of social capital have named ‘generalized trust’. Does a high level of generalized trust reduce citizens’ desire to rely on official control? This article examines the links between generalized trust and trust in the police, and their interactive effect on the willingness to report violent and property crimes. The research data are based on Finnish national crime victim survey data collected in 2006.

The impact of a large reduction in the price of alcohol on area differences in interpersonal violence: a natural experiment based on aggregate data

Background: This paper examines the effect of a drastic reduction in the price of alcohol that occurred in Finland in 2004 on interpersonal violence in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, and how these changes varied at the small-area level. Methods: This study comprised 86 administrative tracts from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Data pertaining to the social structure of the tracts and interpersonal violence were collected from archival sources in the cities and the police in 2002–2005, and analysed using regression analysis. Results: Interpersonal violence rates did not increase after a large reduction in alcohol prices and an increase in consumption. For domestic violence, the rate even decreased. There was a significant relationship between measures of social disadvantage and interpersonal violence. A low educational level and a high outmigration level were the most salient factors. The differences in impact of the reduction in alcohol prices on interpersonal violence between high-, intermediate- and low-status areas were small. Conclusions: It would appear that a radical reduction in the price of alcohol and an increase in consumption do not necessarily lead to detrimental consequences in interpersonal violence or to an adverse development in areas of social disadvantage.

Do the police trust in citizens? European comparisons:

Trust is expected to promote cooperation between the police and citizens. The trust of citizens in the police has been studied a great deal. This article, however, focuses on the other side of this relationship: the trust of the police in citizens. Literature dealing with the police culture indicates that the police have a rather cynical approach to citizens. However, empirical proof of this is scarce and mainly comes from major cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, literature focusing on social capital suggests that generalized trust varies greatly between societies and that it stems from social equality, good administration and high citizen activity. This article is based on the cumulative materials gathered for the European Social Survey 2002–8 from 22 countries. The study compares the level of generalized trust among police officers and other respondents. The analysis to some extent supports the assumption of cynicism among the police. However, the primary finding of the study is that the generalized trust of those working in the police forces closely reflects the level of generalized trust in the society as a whole. In countries where citizens generally trust each other, the police also trust the citizens; whereas in countries with a low level of trust in general, the police are also cynical towards citizens.

Socioeconomic differences in violent victimization: Exploring the impact of data source and the inclusivity of the violence concept

Research on socioeconomic differences in violent victimization has relied on surveys. Nationally representative register-based data sets, increasingly used in Nordic criminology, have not been used in such research. We analyse socioeconomic differences in violent victimization in Finland using both survey and register-based data, and assess whether these differences vary by severity of violence. The results show that the data source and the inclusivity of the definition of violence affect the observed socioeconomic differences, with differentials being larger for more severe violence in both data sets and in register rather than in survey data. We conclude that the link between socioeconomic status and victimization is unquestionable when the risk of severe violence is studied.

Gender framing effects in victim surveys

Crime victimization surveys are important sources of trend information and provide data for basic criminological research. In recent years, victim surveys have proliferated and their strengths are well known. The aim of this study is to increase the methodological literature on victim surveys by analysing framing effects, defined as the way the survey instrument communicates its topic and aim, especially in terms of the gendered nature of violence. Three experimental frames were applied to independent, random samples of the adult Finnish population: male-to-male violence frame, female-to-male violence frame, and male-to-female violence frame. The impacts of these frames were analysed in relation to two outcome variables: self-assessed propensity to report hypothetical borderline incidents in a victim survey and reporting of prior personal violent victimization. Thus, we utilized measures of both intended survey reporting behaviour and real survey reporting behaviour. The findings indicate that the male-to-female violence frame increases the willingness of the respondents to report borderline cases to survey researchers, regardless of other factors. It also increases the prevalence of reported prior victimizations. The female-to-male frame has a similar but weaker framing effect. The findings are discussed from the point of view of the ‘conversation’ paradigm of survey methods research.

The impact of alcohol consumption on homicide: A time-series analysis of three Nordic countries:

The article explores the statistical association between annual alcohol consumption and homicide mortality in Finland, Sweden and Norway from the early 19th century to 2013. The results show statistically significant impacts on overall and male homicide mortality in Finland and on male homicide mortality in Sweden. In Norway, we found no significant impacts. The results suggest that changes in the level of alcohol consumption have had a stronger impact on homicide rates in Finland, characterized by a heavier drinking culture, than in Norway or Sweden. The strength of the association between alcohol consumption and homicide levels seems also to vary over time and to be conditioned by economic and socio-political factors.