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/en/sosiale-forhold-og-kriminalitet/statistikker/straff/arkiv
33510
Less sanctions last year
statistikk
2003-09-12T10:00:00.000Z
Social conditions, welfare and crime;Immigration and immigrants;Svalbard
en
straff, Penal sanctions, crime, criminal cases, type of sanction (for example incarceration, community service, fine), punishment (for example amount of fine, length of prison sentence), sanctioned, judicial authority, offence groups (for example violence, drugs, crimes for profit), types of offence (for example theft, murder, rape)Social conditions, welfare and crime, Social conditions, welfare and crime, Crime and justice, Social conditions, welfare and crime, Immigration and immigrants, Svalbard
false

Penal sanctions, 2002

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Less sanctions last year

206,000 sanctions were registered in Norway in 2002, counting on the spot fines for traffic misdemeanours and misdemeanours against the Duty Act. This makes a decrease of 14 per cent from the 239,000 sanctions in 2001, and is the lowest number of sanctions since 1996. The last two years large changes may be due to a varying speed of registering the cases.

(Revised 14 December 2005)

The decrease in 2002 refers to more or less all types of sanctions, but conditional imprisonments decreased the most, 28 per cent less sentences registered than in 2001. Unconditional imprisonments decreased by 15 per cent, ticket fines by 17 and on the spot fines by 12 per cent.

Sanctions registered

The statistics counts sanctions registered, not sanctions pronounced. The reason for this is the long time from all sanctions being pronounced in one certain year, until they are registered in the data sources. The large decrease in 2002, and the large increase the previous year, is not only connected to changes in the number of sanctions pronounced, but also to the varying speed of registering the cases. A considerable higher number of sanctions were pronounced in 2001 than in the previous year, due to several attempts to shorten the time of dealing with criminal cases. At the same time the work on registering the sanctions with legal efficacy was intensified. Delays were caught up with, and the arrears of unregistered cases were lower than normal by the end of 2001. The result was an extraordinary increase of sanctions registered in 2001, followed by a large decrease in 2002.

Sanctions in 1998-2002, by type of sanction. Numbers and
per 1 000 population 15 years and over (Revised 14 December 2005)
Type of sanction Sanctions, total
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
  Numbers
Total  218 138  215 070  206 367  239 240  205 988
Prosecution conditionally dropped  319  233  219  219  159
On the spot fine  158 105  153 338  142 420  158 637  139 587
Ticket fine 40 656 41 284 45 485 56 639 46 942
Sentence 19 058 20 215 18 243 23 745 19 300
  Per 1 000 population
Total 61.22 60.01 57.31 66.13 56.56
Prosecution conditionally dropped 0.09 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.04
On the spot fine 44.38 42.78 39.55 43.85 38.33
Ticket fine 11.41 11.52 12.63 15.66 12.89
Sentence 5.35 5.64 5.07 6.56 5.30

140 000 on the spot fines

On the spot fines made 140,000, or two thirds, of all sanctions in 2002. Traffic misdemeanours amounted to 93 per cent of the on the spot fines.

Of the remaining 66,400 sanctions 47,000 were ticket fines, 16,400 were imprisonments, 2,100 were fines, 750 were sentences on community service or community penalty. For the remaining 160 sanctions, prosecution was conditionally dropped.

Traffic offences dominates

Three out of four sanctions in 2002 was a result of traffic offences. Offences for profit made 10 per cent of the sanctions, and narcotic offences 6 per cent. Even when on the spot fines are excluded, traffic misdemeanours are releasing most sanctions. Traffic offences then makes up 36 per cent, offences for profit and narcotic offences both make 18 per cent.

Sanctions, by group of offence. Numbers and per cent. 2002 (Revised 14 December 2005)
Group of offence Total On the spot fine Ticket fine Sentence Total On the spot fine Ticket fine Sentence
  Numbers Per cent
All types of crime 1 205 988  139 587 46 942 19 300  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0
Economic offences 1 503 -  495 1 002 0.7 - 1.1 5.2
Other offences of profit 20 776 8 912 6 919 4 893 10.1 6.4 14.7 25.3
Offences of violence 4 193 - 1 430 2 744 2.0 - 3.0 14.2
Sexual offences  429 -  115  312 0.2 - 0.2 1.6
Offences of narcotics 11 894 - 8 676 3 190 5.8 - 18.5 16.5
Damage to property  988 -  748  232 0.5 - 1.6 1.2
Environment offences  713 -  639 74 0.3 - 1.4 0.4
Work environment offences 98 - 94 2 0.0 - 0.2 0.0
Traffic offences  154 458  130 675 18 116 5 656 75.0 93.6 38.6 29.3
Other offences 10 936 - 9 710 1 195 5.3 - 20.7 6.2
1  Including 159 cases of prosecution conditionally dropped.

More cases are settled with ticket fines

Put into a somewhat wider time perspective, ticket fines make a growing portion of the sanctions. Within the five years period 1998-2002, the number of ticket fines rose by 15 per cent, while the number of sentences were practically the same in 2002 as five years earlier. Certainly, the number of unconditional imprisonment sentences was 7 per cent higher in 2002 than in 1998, and 16 per cent more sentences on community service and community sentence, which, however, compensated for the decrease of sentences on conditional imprisonment and fines.

Larger ticket fines

Along with ticket fines increasing the most as type of sanction in the last five years period, the size of ticket fines has increased by 11 per cent (converted to 2002- NOK). On the spot fines increased by 12 per cent, while fines decreased slightly. On the spot fines made an average of NOK 1,742 in 2002, while ticket fines and fines made respectively NOK 3,742 and 6,679. Ticket fines and fines given to firms are excluded from the calculation. 16 per cent of the ticket fines and half of the fines imposed to firms in 2002 were in a size of NOK 100,000 or more. Persons are extremely rare given economical penalties at this size. In 2002 the registered fines, ticket fines and on the spot fines altogether amounted to NOK 551 millions.