Till Örebro universitet

Background: Research on the association between depression and crime is limited regarding different types of crime and severity of crime.

Aim: Using Swedish national register data, we explored the association between depression and various crime outcomes and the severity of crime.

Methods: We identified 72,057 individuals with an outpatient depression diagnosis between 2001 and 2013. Individuals with depression were age-, sex-, and socioeconomic status (SES)-matched to undiagnosed population controls (n = 1,080,855). Logistic regression models estimated odds of any, violent, property, drug-related and non-violent crime, as well as the severity of crime.

Results: In fully adjusted models, individuals with depression had significantly higher odds of any conviction (adjusted OR [adjOR] 1.66 [95 % CI 1.60-1.71]). This pattern persisted across all crime types (violent, property, drug-related, non-violent), and for crime severity, including increased odds for longer sentences and multiple convictions.

Conclusions: Individuals with depression had an increased risk for convictions across all crime types and more severe crimes. Our results emphasize the importance of early identification of risk factors and targeted treatments, and the necessity for clarification of the underlying mechanisms of our findings.

Stalking is a widespread problem causing harm to both victims and society. Partly due to the crime being repetitive in nature, recidivism rates are also high for reported stalking. To assist the police in the effort of reducing risk for further stalking, the police use the risk assessment tool Stalking Assessment and Management (SAM). However, to date, little is known about how the police use the SAM to guide their efforts in assessing and managing risk, ultimately reducing recidivism. The aim of the present study was thus to investigate the extent to which police officers’ assessment of risk using the SAM was associated with their suggestions of risk management interventions as well as the subsequent recidivism in stalking. The material for the present study consisted of 72 risk assessments performed by police officers participating in a long-term longitudinal research project in rural Sweden, and their subsequent suggestions of risk management interventions in stalking cases. The results indicated that the risk assessments did not guide the suggested risk management. Moreover, the strongest discriminatory ability was found for perpetrator risk factors area under the curve (AUC = .68), with other SAM numerical scores and summary risk rating for future stalking lacking predictive validity. Overall, the results question the utility of the SAM as it was used by police and reveal novel findings in the field. The findings point to the importance of appropriate training in risk assessment and management of stalking cases, and the necessity of establishing structures and routines for managing cases of stalking.