Study title

Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study 1995

Alternative Title

The Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study 1995

Dataset ID Number

FSD1128

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1128
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd1128

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Aromaa, Kauko (National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula))
• Kivivuori, Janne (National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula))

Abstract

The survey studied the extent, frequency, and nature of self-reported offending among young Finns. The main topics were truancy, running away from home, fare evasion, driving without a license, doing graffiti, vandalism at school, vandalism outside school, stealing from a store or a kiosk, stealing from school, stealing from home, buying stolen goods, bullying, taking part in fighting, beating up somebody, use of mild drugs and pills, and drink-driving. The respondents were asked whether they had ever been involved in any of these activities and if so, whether the police had been notified if the activities were illegal. In addition, the respondents were asked when they had started the activity in question and whether they had been involved in it during the previous year. If the respondents answered in the affirmative, they were asked if they had been alone or with somebody at the moment, and whether they had been caught. The respondents were also asked topic-related questions like what they had stolen from a store or what the reason for bullying had been.

In the survey, all respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to young people and offences, and what kind of punishments should be used. Among others, the following topics were dealt with: mitigating punishment due to circumstances, how common or normal illegal activities were during puberty, causes of criminality, and the seriousness of petty theft as a crime. Furthermore, the respondents were asked whether they would do some or any of the following forbidden things in the future: truancy, fare evasion, petty theft, theft, mild assault and battery, use of mild drugs. The respondents were also asked whether they thought it was normal that young people break the rules set by their parents, the rules of the school, or break the law. In the survey, the respondents were also asked about the severity of various punishments (house arrest, imprisonment, fine) in a situation where a young person had broken the law.

Background variables included location of school, the respondent's gender, age, employment, whether R liked going to school, how many times R had had to repeat a year in school, professions of the parents and their current employment situation, interpersonal relationships in the family, use of money, household composition, leisure time activities, whether R had a boyfriend/girlfriend, alcohol use, and smoking.

Keywords

adolescents; alcohol use; assault; bullying; crime victims; criminal damage; disorderly conduct; drug abuse; juvenile delinquency; offences; punishment; schoolchildren; theft; traffic offences; youth

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Crime and law enforcement (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• National Research Institute of Legal Policy

Data Producers

• National Research Institute of Legal Policy

Time Period Covered

1995

Collection Dates

1995-04 – 1995-05

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

9th grade students (generally aged 15-16) of Finnish-speaking municipal comprehensive schools

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability

Two schools from the metropolitan area of Helsinki, one school from Espoo and one from Vantaa were picked to the sample. From Southern Finland, Middle Finland and Northern Finland, one school from an urban, a densely populated municipality and a rural municipality were picked to the sample.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

89

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English and Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

216 variables and 1195 cases.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD1214 Teacher Victimisation in Finland 1997

FSD2672 Teacher Victimisation in Finland 2008

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data contain variable q4 (school) created at FSD, which is based on the original school id. This variable allows identifying the observations belonging to the same cluster.

Responses to open-ended questions which have not been classified are missing from the data. In addition, variable q5 containing the class identifier was removed from the data, and exceptional ages (two cases) were categorised into larger classes.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Aromaa, Kauko (National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula)) & Kivivuori, Janne (National Research Institute of Legal Policy (Optula)): Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study 1995 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-04-26). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1128

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall send the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy a copy of all reports, articles, other publications or unpublished theses based on or using the data. The copies shall be sent to the mail address: Department of Social Research, Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, Janne Kivivuori, P.O. Box 10, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Nuoret rikosten tekijöinä ja uhreina (2002). Toim. Janne Kivivuori. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen julkaisuja; 188.

Kivivuori, Janne & Salmi, Venla (2005). Nuorten rikoskäyttäytyminen 1995-2004: teemana sosiaalinen pääoma. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen julkaisuja; 214.

Kivivuori, Janne & Karvonen, Sakari & Rimpelä, Matti (2001). Nuorten rikoskäyttäytymisen yleisyys kyselyjen valossa. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen tutkimustiedonantoja; 54.

Kivivuori, Janne (1995). Nuorten rikollinen ja kielletty toiminta 1995. Nuorisorikollisuuden seurantahankkeen ensimmäisen vuoden tuloksia ja kokemuksia. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen julkaisuja; 129.

Kivivuori, Janne (1999). Nuorten rikoskäyttäytyminen 1995-1998. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen julkaisuja; 161.

Nuorten rikoskäyttäytyminen ja uhrikokemukset: Nuorisorikollisuuskyselyiden tuloksia 1995-2008 (2009). Toim. Salmi, Venla. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen tutkimuksia; 246.

Salmi, Venla (2008). Nuorten rikoskäyttäytyminen 1995-2008 [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos. Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen verkkokatsauksia; 9/2008. http://www.optula.om.fi/1247667029769 [viitattu 9.7.2013].

Kivivuori, J. (2014). Understanding Trends in Personal Violence: Does Cultural Sensitivity Matter? In Michael Tonry (ed): Why Crime Rates Fall, and Why they Don't. Crime and Justice, Volume 43. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Kivivuori, J. & Salmi, V. & Walser, S. (2013). Supervision Mode Effects in Computerized Delinquency Surveys at School: Finnish Replication of a Swiss Experiment. Journal of Experimental Criminology 9:1, 91-107.

Kivivuori, J. (2011). Discovery of Hidden Crime. Self-Report Surveys in Criminal Policy Context. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Kivivuori, J. & Salmi, V. (2009). The Challenge of Special Needs Education in School-Based Delinquency Research. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention 10:1, 2-17.

Kivivuori, J. (2013). Methodological studies in the development of Finnish crime surveys: Selected examples. In: Methodologies and methods in criminology. NSfKs 55. forskerseminar. Scandinavian Research Council fro Criminology, Aarhus Universitet.

Kivivuori, Janne & Aaltonen, Mikko & Näsi, Matti & Suonpää, Karoliina & Danielsson, Petri (2018). Kriminologia: rikollisuus ja kontrolli muuttuvassa yhteiskunnassa. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

Kaakinen, M. & Näsi, M. (2021). Nuorisorikollisuuden esiintyvyys ja tekomäärät Suomessa 1995-2020. Kriminologia, 1(1), 5-19. https://kriminologia.journal.fi/article/view/109017.