Background: Physical punishment (PP) of children is banned in > 50 countries, motivated by ethical arguments as well as empirically ascertained negative effects in adulthood. There is ample social pressure against PP in Sweden. Aims: How common is a history of PP among randomly selected Malmö adolescents, is PP explained by certain social background factors and/or individual characteristics, and how do physically punished individuals differ with respect to antisocial outcomes at age 18. Method: Participants (N = 518, a 20% sample of children born in Malmö 1995) responded to a comprehensive self-report questionnaire in three waves, age 15, 16 and 19. Results: PP was reported by appr. 20% of the participants. Several differences were observed between participants who experienced PP and those who did not. These differences can be summarized as follows: parents’ country of birth, the importance of religion, conflicts with parents, poor bonding with family, exposure to antisocial peers, perceived victimization by peers and teachers, victimization from crime, and difficulties with certain aspects of self-regulation. Conclusion: In spite of being illegal, PP is relatively common. There were some significant associations suggesting differences between those exposed to PP and the others, but no serious effects at age 19, except violent behaviour for boys.

Studenterna på kriminologiprogrammet vid Malmö universitet läser under termin fem kursen Kriminologi: Tillämpning. Under kursen får studenterna undersöka aktuella ämnen med fokus på samverkan inom brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbete. Genom den samverkansöverenskommelse som finns mellan Institutionen för kriminologi och Polisområde Malmö tilldelas studenterna på kursen olika ämnen med utgångspunkt i den lokala problembilden i kommunen. Hösten 2024 har BID Malmö dessutom samverkat med studenterna på kursen.

Kursen löper över tio veckor och arbetet genomförs i grupp där studenterna tillämpar kunskaper som de har förvärvat under tidigare kurser på kriminologiprogrammet. Genom att använda kriminologisk kunskap för att belysa och undersöka ämnen som tar sin utgångspunkt i reella problem ges studenterna under kursen möjlighet att testa och omsätta teoretiska kunskaper i ett praktiskt sammanhang. Varje grupp sammanställer en rapport som även presenteras muntligt för representanter för Polisområde Malmö, lärare, studenter samt andra aktörer som på olika sätt bidragit till studenternas rapporter.

Under höstterminen 2024 har studenterna undersökt följande ämnesområden: Länsstyrelsernas och polisens informationsmaterial ”Gängsnacket”, polisens arbetssätt under Eurovision 2024, trafikproblematiken i centrala Malmö, ungas involvering i våldsbejakande fotbollssupportergrupper, tryggheten i Södra Sofielund samt klotter, olaga affischering och nedskräpning på Möllevången.

Ämnena är unika och varje grupp har fått använda de metoder som de ansett vara mest lämpliga för att samla in relevant information. Varje grupp har också identifierat och kontaktat relevanta organisationer och individer som har kunnat bidra med kunskap om ämnet. Den insamlade informationen har analyserats för att besvara frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för studenternas arbeten. Med utgångspunkt i analysen och tidigare forskning har studenterna sedan arbetat fram åtgärdsförslag som främst riktats till Polisområde Malmö men även till andra aktörer av relevans för det aktuella problemområdet.

Varje grupp har under arbetet haft en kontaktperson i form av en kommunpolis verksam i något av Malmös lokalpolisområden eller en person verksam vid BID Malmö. Under kursen har studenterna också haft regelbunden handledning med kursens lärare. Studenternas arbeten har dock bedrivits självständigt där metodval, analys och åtgärdsförslag är studenternas egna. Dessutom har studenterna fortlöpande löst olika problem och uppvisat flexibilitet för att säkerställa rapporternas färdigställande.

Rapporterna redogör för sex vitt skilda ämnen vilket visar på den mångfald av ämnen och problem som är relevanta för Polisområde Malmö samt BID Malmö. Därutöver visar den ämnesmässiga bredden på kriminologins vidsträckta tillämpningsområde. Som läsare får du således en inblick i hur olika ämnen kan belysas och undersökas med hjälp av kriminologisk kunskap.

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a global public health problem, shown to be related to gender equality and to attitudes towards IPVAW. In Sweden, however, the reported prevalence of IPVAW is high, despite high levels of gender equality and a clear condemnation of such violence on the societal level. This phenomenon has been referred to as The Nordic paradox. One potential explanation for this paradox is that gender equality measures at the public level are not necessarily comparable to gender equality at a private level. One way to find out more about this is to investigate attitudes towards IPVAW at an individual level, which has so far been done to a limited extent in a Swedish context. In the current study, the aim was to investigate different aspects of attitudes to IPVAW (perceived acceptability, perceived severity, victim-blaming and ambivalent sexism) among university students in Sweden, and whether those attitudes were related to studentś willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW. Any gender differences related to IPVAW attitudes and willingness to intervene were also examined. The respondents (n = 656, ≥18 years old) were recruited from three different universities and represented different scientific fields (e.g. social, behavioral, and technical sciences). Most of the respondents were undergraduate students and the majority were women (81%). The results showed that the students had rather non-accepting attitudes towards IPVAW overall, but viewed victims as to some extent responsible of the violence they are subjected to. There were no gender differences regarding willingness to intervene in cases of IPVAW, and attitudes to IPVAW were related to willingness to intervene. There were both similarities and differences between male and female students, in terms of how attitudes were linked to willingness to intervene. The presentation will discuss the results and their implications for future research, policy and practice.

Key messages

• Increased knowledge on attitudes towards IPVAW in Sweden may shed light on the Nordic paradox.
• While non-accepting attitudes were found overall, gender differences and tendencies towards victim-blaming were identified.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health problem with severe consequences. One way to prevent repeat IPVis to identify the offender’s risk of recidivism by conducting a risk assessment and then implement interventions to reduce the risk. In order to be effective, accurate risk assessments and effective interventions are required. Practitioners in different settings are conducting IPV risk assessments, but the predictive validity of practitioners’ IPV assessments has not been studied via a comprehensive literature search. This is the overall aim of the present study. The literature search was conducted in five different databases and at three different publisher sites. The selection of studies was based on nine different inclusion and exclusion criteria. The number of studies that fulfilled the criteria was unexpectedly small (N = 11). One of the studies was conducted in a treatment setting, the others in criminal justice settings. The predictive accuracy for the global risk assessments ranged from low to medium. The role of treatment or other interventions to prevent repeat IPV had been analyzed in one way or another in eight of the studies. There is a knowledge gap, the reasons of which are discussed.

Violence risk assessment and management is conducted in police settings in order to prevent repeat victimization. One of the most frequently used violence risk assessment tools in this specific context is called the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER), which focuses on intimate partner violence (IPV). The present study examines B-SAFER assessments conducted by police employees, related protective actions and repeat IPV crimes in order to study: 1) to what extent risk- and victim vulnerability factors in the B-SAFER predicted global risk assessments, 2) the predictive accuracy of each B-SAFER item and the global risk assessments with regard to repeat IPV, 3) to what extent recommended protective actions were implemented and 4) the preventive effect of the implemented protective actions on repeat IPV. There were a large number of missing cases in the assessments and the risk and victim vulnerability factors only contributed to the global risk assessments to a minor extent. The predictive validity was low overall, few protective actions were implemented and those which were actually implemented did not appear to prevent repeat IPV. The continuous education and training of assessors is required to improve the work of violence risk assessment and management in police settings.