21583_not-searchable
/en/sosiale-forhold-og-kriminalitet/statistikker/lovbrudda/arkiv
21583
Decrease in use and possession of narcotics
statistikk
2005-05-25T10:00:00.000Z
Social conditions, welfare and crime;Svalbard
en
lovbrudda, Offences and victims reported to the police, crime, criminal cases, offence groups violence, drugs, crimes for profit, types of offence theft, murder, rapeSocial conditions, welfare and crime, Crime and justice, Social conditions, welfare and crime, Svalbard
false

Offences and victims reported to the police, 2003

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Decrease in use and possession of narcotics

The 421 000 offences reported to the police in 2003 are somewhat below the annual average in the period 1999-2003. Offences for profit and narcotics had the strongest influence on the total decrease of 3.8 per cent compared with the previous year.

Statistics on offences reported to the police 1993-2003 from Statistics Norway

Statistics on offences reported to the police are recently revised for the period 1993-2002 (see publication 12 May 2005). SSB has a result of this, and the technical re-adjustment of the police central register system (STRASAK/PAL, made from October 2002 included), changed the routines for processing the statistics on offences reported to the police. Revision and changes in processing are made to, among other things, improve statistics quality assurance, accuracy and that the time periods to a great extent should be comparable (see About the statistics).

For this reason, it has not been possible for Statistics Norway to complete and publish the statistics on offences reported to the police 2003 until now. Statistics on offences reported in 2004 will be published within the end of 2nd quarter of 2005.

Offences reported to the police. Number. 1993-2003

Less narcotic offences reported to the police

The first decrease in reported narcotics offences in Norway came in 2002. The decrease was then particularly due to less reported offences for use of narcotics, and the total extent of narcotic offences was still larger than what was the case the previous years to 2001. In 2003 the number of reported narcotic offences dropped further, and a lot sharper - by 18.7 per cent compared with 2002. In 2003 there was a total of 36 700 narcotic offences reported to the police, which is the lowest number since 1999.

Most types of narcotic offences has a decline, but the reduction is somewhat stronger for the least serious cases: The number of cases of use of narcotics decreased by 21 per cent, and by that reached below the level of 1998. Similarly possession of small quantities of narcotics (due to the Act relating to Medicinal Products and Poisons etc.) decreased by 22 per cent, and the somewhat more serious narcotic crimes decreased by 17 per cent. The number of the most serious types of narcotic crimes also decreased 8 per cent compared with 2002, but in the light of previous years still on a relative high level.

Offences reported to the police, by group of offence. 1993-2003. Number
  1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Total  327 466   332 771   377 478   385 446   402 252   415 472   407 277   424 918   417 166   437 250   420 762
Crimes  230 180  234 941  267 925  271 205  284 695  293 799  291 924  306 526  299 714  319 523  303 824
Misdemeanours 97 286 97 830  109 553  114 241  117 557  121 673  115 353  118 392  117 452  117 727  116 938
Group of offence                      
Economic offences 6 680 6 375 7 872 6 698 6 968 7 502 7 545 8 280 8 014 7 950 15 951
Other offences for profit  187 422  190 686  207 242  208 813  214 865  219 949  213 183  221 577  207 041  226 285  214 973
Offences of violence 16 096 16 865 18 076 19 299 19 288 19 839 20 371 23 572 24 180 25 289 24 478
Sexual offences 2 173 2 102 2 244 3 518 3 372 2 945 2 804 2 772 3 058 3 142 3 322
Offences of narcotics 12 714 13 550 21 435 25 009 31 217 35 144 37 426 40 730 46 251 45 092 36 657
Damage to property 16 208 17 084 24 258 24 665 27 592 30 470 30 171 28 828 25 396 22 809 21 618
Environment offences 3 355 3 686 3 867 3 711 3 866 3 813 3 607 3 383 3 454 2 900 2 391
Work environment offences  766  872 1 017  998 1 206 1 260  985  963  945  887  793
Traffic offences 49 750 47 226 53 945 52 805 55 657 57 370 54 268 56 391 57 202 59 339 59 537
Other offences 32 302 34 325 37 522 39 930 38 221 37 180 36 917 38 422 41 625 43 557 41 042

Every fourth larceny committed in Oslo

Offences for profit makes more than half of all offences reported to the police, and had compared with the previous year a decrease of 5 per cent. During the period 1997-2003 the number of reported offences for profit has varied, and the number in 2003 is somewhat below the annual average for the period.

Relative to population, Oslo has the most offences reported to the police, of both offences for profit, damage to property and offences of violence. According to per 1 000 population, Oslo has more than twice as many reported larcenies and other offences for profit compared with the total nationwide. Oslo is the scene of crime for more than 26 per cent of all larcenies reported to the police in Norway. This strong overrepresentation of larcenies contributes to a considerably extent in making Oslo the county and police district with the most offences reported to the police.

One case of fraud doubled the economic offences

Because of one big case, including about 8 000 frauds, the total extent of economic offences were doubled - and a lot higher than all previous years.

Increase in number of sexual offences?

Despite an overall decline, the number of sexual offences reported to the police increased by 5.7 per cent. Because of changes in law and in the methods of registration, it is difficult to tell if the increase in the statistics involves a corresponding increase in the number of offences reported to the police.

Many offences committed abroad

A considerable number of offences committed abroad are reported to the police in Norway. Offences for profit makes more than 82 per cent of almost 6 500 offences, and most of them happened in countries that often are visited by Norwegian residents. Sweden, Denmark and Spain - which had about 1 000 offences each - are the countries outside Norway leading to most offences reported to the police.