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full screen Sven Granath is a criminologist and researcher at Stockholm University. Archive image. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
A woman was stabbed to death at work in a grocery store. The suspected perpetrator was immediately arrested, and according to the prosecutor, there is no known connection between the plaintiff and the suspect.
The murder bears signs of what is usually called an act of insanity.
All the circumstances are not yet known surrounding the stabbing that occurred on Tuesday evening. But the first information that has come to light points to the fact that it could be what is usually called an act of insanity and which is characterized by the fact that there is no rational motive or major planning.
– It is a very temporary outburst of aggression. There is nothing that explains that the person who is affected by it will be affected, says Sven Granath, criminologist and researcher at Stockholm University, and continues:
– It can affect all kinds of victims. It can be men and women, young and old. That’s what’s so unpleasant about these crimes, they can hit even fairly weak victims.
There are no exact figures on acts of insanity that occur, but according to Granath’s assessment, it happens on average 1–3 times a year in Sweden.
The perpetrators behind it have some kind of problem, and may also have been guilty of other crimes. It can also be about conflicts in the environment, addiction problems and aggression problems.
Often there is some trigger, that something negative has happened to the perpetrator, close to home.
– But it doesn’t have to be connected to where and against whom this then happens, says Granath.