A Comparison between Indoor and Outdoor Rape Suspects in Sweden

ABSTRACT

As the number of rapes is increasing in Sweden, and the number of individuals convicted of these crimes is decreasing, it is of importance to study offender characteristics of those committing these crimes and the circumstances in which these crimes are conducted, such as indoors or outdoors. Data from Swedish population-based registers were used to identify individuals suspected of rape, aggravated rape, attempted rape or attempted aggravated rape (in short: rape+) against females ≥18 years old between 2007–2017. Latent Class Analysis was then used to identify classes of rape+ suspects with respect to the location of the rape+ and then compare the two groups. A total of 19,723 individuals were included of which the majority (n = 17,520; 88.8%) were suspected of indoor rape+. In both groups, we identified a low offenders’ class and a high offenders’ class. In addition, first-generation immigrants had a higher odds of being suspected of outdoor rape+ than Swedish-born suspects, and a previous conviction of violent crime was a risk factor for committing outdoor rape+.

Ethical permission

Regional Ethical Review Board in Lund (Dnr: 2012/795)

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website

Notes

¹ Included codes: 0644, 0648, 0656, 0658, 0660, 0684, 0688, 0692, 0696, 9607, and 9611.

² Included codes: 0645, 0649, 0657, 0659, 0661, 0685, 0689, 0693, 0697, 9608, and 9612.

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [grant agreement No 787592].

Notes on contributors

Ardavan Khoshnood

Ardavan Khoshnood, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor and specialist in Emergency Medicine at Lund University and Skåne University Hospital in Lund. He is also a criminologist focusing on offender profiling, criminal intelligence and violent crimes. He has also degrees in Political Science as well as Intelligence Analysis.

Henrik Ohlsson

Henrik Ohlsson, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the Center for Primary Health Research at Lund University. His work is mainly focused on the study design and application of established statistical methods within the area of register-based epidemiology. His interest is directed at methods that can distinguish between genetic and environmental impact in the development of psychiatric disorder.

Jan Sundquist

Jan Sundquist, MD, PhD, is a family physician and professor with a long-standing interest in immigrant’s health. He has led several international research studies focusing on how migration, and its consequences, influences a number of health outcomes in first- and second-generation immigrants.

Kristina Sundquist

Kristina Sundquist, MD, PhD, is a family physician and professor with a main research focus on how social circumstances affects people’s health and with a particular focus on somatic and psychiatric health among vulnerable subgroups in the population.