Juvenile Delinquency in Gladsaxe and Northern Jutland, 1989

In 1979 a survey was carried out in the municipality of Gladsaxe concerning juvenile delinquency and spare time habits of all pupils attending the 8th form (DDA-0285: Juvenile Delinquency in a Suburban Municipality, 1979). This very extensive survey is now considered a landmark in Danish research on juvenile delinquency, and the results of the survey have been applied in many connections and have, among other things, formed the basis of crime prevention. # However, in the period 1979-1989 a number of social changes took place which made it questionable whether the results of the 1979 survey were still tenable in 1989. The number of young people had decreased somewhat, and everything seemed to indicate that children and young people committed fewer criminal acts than earlier. In any case, there had been a considerable decrease in the registered rate of juvenile crime. It was therefore decided to replicate the survey from 1979 in order to find out in which ways the development had influenced the lives of young people, including their experiences with crime. The purpose was to comprise 8th form pupils in the municipality of Gladsaxe in 1989. # At the same time it was decided to extend the survey to include children and young people living in small urban districts or in rural districts. The area chosen for this part of the survey was Hjørring police district, which is one of the police districts with the lowest crime rate. # The questionnaire used in the 1979 survey was - with a number of limitations - re-used in the 1989 survey. Only a few questions were added, which means that most of the questions in the 1989 survey are exact copies of the questions from the 1979 survey. Furthermore, the questionnaire used in the 1989 survey is almost identical with the questionnaire used in a survey of self-reported crime among 7th, 8th, and 9th form pupils in Allerød in 1990 (DDA-1652: Juvenile Delinquency in Allerød, 1990)