Multiculturalism and immigration in Norway

“Who do they think they are, the scum. They come here just to do crime, live of our welfare
and take our jobs.” Is what someone might say when talking about immigrants. But is the rise
of crime rates relating to drug dealing and violence by teens a direct consequence of
immigration? I think that immigration is a great contributor to the rise of crime rates relating
to drug dealing and violence by teens, if not a direct consequence to this. To prove my point, I
will discuss some arguments that defend my statement, as well as some arguments that goes
against it. This is to show my objectiveness as a writer, as well as it makes it easier for the
reader to make up his/her mind after looking at both the pros, and the cons.

We might think that the huge number of immigrants is directly affecting crime rates amongst
minors, even though that is not an important factor at all. Rather than crime rates rising
because of immigrants, it’s more that it rises in general amongst teenagers. This due to the
high exposure teens experience in their daily lives, as well as depression and anxiety steadily
becoming more common with teenagers. Sadness often turns into anger, and this could make
teens turn to drug abuse or violence as a result. Artists, rappers, pop idols and celebrities in
general often sing, rap or talk about drugs and crime. This especially pertains to rappers, who
regularly rap about and embrace things like popping pills, doing drugs, dealing drugs, having
gang fights, gang shootouts, having sex with prostitutes and so on. This is problematic, as
teens look up to these guys and therefore draw inspiration from them. Despite all of this,
nearly all rapes in public spaces in Oslo in 2013 were committed by immigrants (Migration
policy institute, 2013). This just serves to show that immigration plays a big role when it
comes to crime in Norway, and especially in Oslo.

According to Migration Policy Institute (2013) “The greater Oslo area is home to a quarter of
Norway’s population and more than half of the immigrant population”. The city is parted into
two parts; the east and the west (when talking about ethnicial territorial segregation). Ethnical
minorities and immigrants mostly live on the east side of town, and ethnic Norwegians are a
minority on this part of town. On the west side, it’s the same as on the east just flipped on it’s
head. It does not make it better that the houses and properties are much better looking and
pricier. This form for segregation makes immigrants angry, and this in turn makes it easier for
them to lash out violently against others from the west side, as they in a sense dislikes them.
But there is not only a split between the east and the west. There are gangs from all over the
different parts of the city. Every part of the city has it’s own gang, which kind of represents
those from that area, and it often happens that these gangs fight other gangs. This whole
gangculture is heavily inspired by the gang culture which you find in afro-american
communities in the U.S.
One of the biggest factors as to why immigrants contribute so heavily to the crime rates
increasing would be conflicts and fights that stem from immigrants’ backgrounds/customs
colliding with Norwegian religion and culture. The sole biggest contributor is crime related to
drugs. There are a big number of minority teens who sells/buys drugs to support their family,
as they may not have enough money. Stab incidents, fights and even shootouts are known to
occur because of drug related feuds, and that is what makes the crime rates go up.
To conclude, I found that discrimination, poverty, cultural clashes and segregation make
immigrating teens or teens with minority backgrounds to engage in crime more regularly than
ethnical Norwegians tend to do, as they do not face these aforementioned problems. However,
while researching, I found that immigration might not be a direct consequence, but rather a
big part of a bigger picture, in the sense that there are other reasons as to why crime rates
amongst teens have been rising lately. You could

Sources:
Migration Policy Institute (March 2013), Areas of tension, Last seen: 18.12.19
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