Convicted criminals in Norrbotten 1873 – 1875 : The judiciaries actions based on age and gender

Law and crime are subjects widely spoken of and written about in public debates as well as in research. Many seek to answer the question about what makes a person end up in a criminality. We tend to explain criminal behavior with terms like; social vulnerability and lack of self-control but the question is whether we can use such explanations when we speak of crimes in history. This research aims at studying prisoner registers and legal texts to get a picture of who became a criminal in Norrbotten under the years 1873 – 1875. The factors used to differentiate who the criminals were are; gender, age and class affiliation. The research will also handle the question whether the judiciary tended to judge people differently based on age and gender. In this part of the research a number of cases will be selected and studied in-depth and compared with the legal texts. The cases will represent people of both genders and people from diverse age groups. Previous research has often processed female and male criminals separately which has not led to a complete picture of criminal statistics in the 19th century. Therefore, this research aims to include both male and female on an equal premises as possible. When it comes to female offenders, researchers often focus on serious crimes such as violence and murders. With that said, this research aims to focus on less serious crimes and as such contribute with a new perspective in history writing. The result shows that there was a tendency that the judiciary took gender into consideration when they decided on the sentence. Also, very young criminals seem to have their sentences adjusted based on their young age.