Criminality Among Homeless Men

Abstract

Summary A group consisting of 202 Swedish male citizens who, during 1969, were registered with a special Bureau for Homeless men, was investigated in regard to criminality. The persons studied were followed‐up for a 3‐year observation period. Compared to the general population there was a marked excess registration in the Criminal Register. Even the crime recurrence rate was high. Only a few persons, however, had been guilty of serious crimes with an element of violence, such as manslaughter, robbery with violence or rape. The fact that severe criminality is not particularly common in alcoholics is also reflected in the legal consequences. In view of the high rate of recidivism and the fact that the sentences often concerned several crimes simultaneously these were usually relatively mild. For one fourth of the persons registered, criminality had started before the age of 20, i.e. at an age when alcoholism had probably not attained its maximum degree of severity. Among those alcoholics who become criminal at an early age both alcohol abuse and criminality may be manifestations of other factors which contribute to the development of a deviating behavioural pattern.