Takk til de som støttet arbeidet med barnedrapsforskningen

Posted on | July 19, 2016 | No Comments

Torsdag 16. juni i år forsvarte jeg ved disputas min doktorgradsavhandling An Evolutionary Psychological Analysis of Filicide in Norway. Min studie på kjennetegn ved barnedrap i Norge 1990-2009 inngår i avhandlingen, samt en teoretisk artikkel som omhandler hvorfor egne barndomsopplevelser med foreldreinnvestering kan gi opphav til de individuelle forskjeller i risiko omsorgspersoner i like situasjoner har til å begå barnedrap.

Hele kappen til avhandlingen kan leses her. Den første av tre artikler som inngår i avhandlingen, som omhandler det påfallende funnet at ingen er blitt domfelt for drap på nyfødte i studiens tidsperiode, er publisert og kan lastes ned her.

I dette blogginnlegget ønsker jeg imidlertid å dele “Acknowledgements” fra avhandlingen, hvor jeg takker de som har støttet arbeidet mitt med barnedrapsforskning i Norge. Noen av dere som leser dette, kjenner allerede til at jeg begynte med drapsforskning i Norge i 2008, da jeg ble ansatt ved et såkalt kompetansesenter ved Oslo Universitetssykehus. Etter ledelsen min først hadde nektet meg å arbeide for å få godkjent en partnerdrapsstudie i 2010, gikk de enda lenger senere samme år ved å nektet meg å publisere resultat fra barnedrapsstudien jeg hadde jobbet med i tre år.

Det har vært en lang kamp og alvorlig påkjenning på alle deler av livet mitt å skulle få til å gjennomføre barnedrapsstudien på nytt. Alle som har støttet meg på ulike vis i denne kampen kan dele gleden og seieren det er å endelig kunne fortelle hva som kjennetegner barnedrap i Norge. Slik takkes de alle i avhandlingen:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost I wish to thank Professor Nils Chr. Stenseth and all my colleagues at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo. Since May 2012, they have given me a supportive, safe and inspiring work environment in which I finally could start all over again, from scratch, with my research on patterns in homicide in Norway, after my previous place of employment in 2010 decided not allow me to finish the work I started on in 2008. The present study would not have happened if not for the opportunities Stenseth and CEES so generously have given me.

I wish to thank The National Crime Investigation Service (NCIS), The National Police Computer and Material Services (NPCMS), and all the police districts for supplying the present study with data, in both rounds of the study. I believe the priority you have given this work is a reflection of the priority child homicide has in your own work. I look forward to continuing our collaboration in the forthcoming study on intimate partner homicide and other, future homicide studies.

In my career as a university student there have been a string of tutors who have supported my (to them) unconventional ambition of exploring the possibilities of combining evolutionary theory, psychology and criminology. I am both impressed and grateful that they took the chance on allowing me to follow my scholarly interests so freely. The academic growth I obtained from freely following my interests prepared me for taking on the great challenge of combining these fields in my own research. For the present thesis, I have been privileged to enjoy the trust, encouragement and patience of Professor Anne-Inger Helmen Borge and Professor Tore Slagsvold. Thank you both, ever so much, and I hope I was not your greatest challenge, as I asked for your comments on less that structured drafts for the work presented in this thesis.

I am further grateful for the interest international colleagues within evolutionary psychology and homicide and violence research have shown my work, findings and interpretations over the years – always treating me like their peer. This has been a great comfort in the lonely endeavour of being a homicide researcher in Norway. In particular, I want to thank Viviana Weekes-Shackelford for accepting my invitation to co-author a paper on the present study’s findings (Paper II), and Professor Martin Daly and Professor David Bjorkly for their helpful comments on the manuscripts for Paper I and Paper III for this thesis, respectively, and inspiring discussions.

I want to thank The Norwegian Women and Family Association, who, through the Norwegian ExtraFoundation for Health and Rehabilitation, gave a grant for researching patterns in filicide in Norway, supporting my work 2009-2011. Unfortunately, as my previous place of employment did not allow me to publish my results, the grant did not support the work presented in this thesis.

Perhaps somewhat unusual for a researcher, I want to express my gratitude to media. Since I first began researching patterns in homicide in 2008, media have had a crucial role in raising awareness and urgency among politicians, practitioners, and the general public with regards to homicide in close relationships. Journalists, social commentators and news editors have also highlighted the importance of research on homicide, and have explicitly and repeatedly expressed their support for my work – an unusual and fortunate privilege for any researcher.

And I am also grateful for the enthusiasm and want for knowledge among those who have crucial roles in the prevention or detection, investigation and prosecution of filicides, or in educating future practitioners in Norway. You have helped me keep up the motivation and courage this work has demanded. Finally, I may share my findings in detail with all of you and your students!

My deepest gratitude goes to my parents, Jean and Gunvald, and my friends who never wavered in their belief in the importance of researching patterns in homicide, and my ability to do so. Throughout the years, no matter what the obstacles, and in both rounds of performing the present study, you have supported me in every way you could, and more so than I could ever have asked for. It is because of all of you I had the strength and will to carry on. I am grateful beyond my ability to express it in words and I am deeply, deeply touched.

Oslo, December 2015

Vibeke Kennair Ottesen

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