Oslo Rape Wave: Detailed Statistics

We’ve reported numerous times in the past on the wave of culturally-enriched rapes in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Different explanations have been offered — global warming, for example, or an increased willingness on the part of the victims to report the crime — to avoid discussing the massive over-representation of non-European immigrants in the rape statistics.

The latest theory holds that irresponsible media outlets are exacerbating the situation by reporting the rape statistics and thereby encouraging racism. Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated excerpts from an article on the topic, and includes this introduction:

This very interesting piece was posted on Document.no earlier today. It’s a response to an op-ed published in one of big newspapers in Norway a couple of days ago in which the author accused the media and the police of causing racism by publishing rape statistics!

These figures deliver a decisive blow against those who claim that non-Western immigrants are unfairly stigmatized in the media in these types of cases.

The translation below is an abbreviated version. I decided to translate only the first half of it.

The translated article:

The chicken or the egg?

And here we go again. Armed with an amateurish news report from Utrop [immigrant newspaper] Anna Kathrine Eltvik, a politician from Rodt [The Reds] accuses the police and media of creating racism with rape statistics. Ms. Eltvik gets right down to the nitty-gritty in her op-ed:

"Why doesn’t VG write about "Per” from Horten, or "Nils” from Trondheim? The fact that most girls and women experience abuse and rape at the hands of their boyfriends, friends and acquaintances is not mentioned at all. Nor is it mentioned that most rapists are ethnic Norwegians. By omitting this fact the country’s best-selling tabloid newspaper creates the impression that only immigrants behave in such a completely unacceptable manner. They should rise above such tactics.

"Are the media and police going to spend any significant time rectifying the damage that they have caused? That’s highly unlikely. And what’s astonishing is that they are likely to get away scot-free, too. After all, there are some Norwegians who thrive in their abominable prejudice, and who don’t wish to admit that they have been wrong.”

The article in Utrop is based on a report published by the Oslo police in 2011: Voldtekt i den globale byen [Rape in the global city], which makes for dismal reading. The source of Tanweer Hussain’s — and thus Anna Kathrine Eltvik’s — sensational headline "The myth about non-western rapists is starting to crack” can most likely be traced to Table 3 (p.28) in the report, which deals with known, convicted perpetrators.

But convictions alone do not paint a correct picture, as only 12% of all reported rapes in Norway result in a conviction. The number of rapists in Norway who are convicted of rape is only between 0.5% and 1%. It is therefore customary to base rape statistics on police reports and the victim’s description of the perpetrator when trying to determine the frequency of rape. And these numbers paint a very clear picture, so clear in fact that some feel compelled to a) disregard all tables except the one that support their own views and b) attempt to sustain other myths.

In the original article Hussain proclaims that:

"The huge surge in rapes in 2012 is attributed to the so-called party-related rapes (date rapes) in which ethnic Norwegians are over-represented.”

But this assertion is incorrect. Ethnic Norwegians are not over-represented in any of the five rape categories drawn up the police. In all the categories, including party-related rapes, there is an over-representation of men from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which is rather baffling, considering the size of this group in relation to ethnic Norwegians. (...)