The crimes came with the railway : A local historical study of how crime in Kalmar was affected by the railway construction

The railway was one of the most significant happenings in Sweden in the 19th century and had a major impact on national, regional and local infrastructure. However, this essay focus on the effects that newly build railways and railway stations had on cities in terms of crimes. Unlike anything else the ‘new’ infrastructure paved the way for a new standard in both the social life and the industries. The fact that industrialization caused structural changes in cities is not questioned, but the aim of this study is to focus on one happening in one city. Therefore, the railway is thus the happening and the examined city is Kalmar. The first step was to observe the court records from the years before, during and after the railway was assembled. Then the criminal acts from the court record were quantified from the years between 1869 – 1876 in order to enable the analysis of change in crimes. In addition to the above-mentioned method, the main focus was to be able to answer the research questions. First and foremost, the main research question which focused on what consequences the railway had on the criminal behaviour in Kalmar, and last but not least study the correlation between crimes and social class during the years of 1869 and 1876.