Crime in Finland

Crime in Finland is combated by the Finnish police and other agencies.

In 2014, Finland had a murder rate of 1.4 per 100,000 population. There were a total of 78 murders in Finland in 2014.

Half of murders involve men of marginalized groups (unemployed, undereducated, drug and alcohol problems) in heavy drinking situations. Thirty-five percent of homicides are committed by family members, and ten percent of homicides are classified as youth violence.

Women constitute 10 percent of offenders and 25 percent of victims. The vast majority of female offenders target a husband or other family member. Twenty-three percent of homicide victims of male offenders were strangers. Fewer than 20 percent of murders are committed outdoors. Sixty percent of male and 30 percent of the female homicide offenders have been arrested for drunken driving at least once.

Firearms are used in 14 percent of the cases. Street shootings and gang violence are extremely rare. A few cases involving motorcycle gangs have occurred in recent years, attracting national attention.

In 2005, 594 cases of rape (114 ppm), 380 cases of other sex crime and 946 cases of statutory rape were reported to the police. According to official statistics, 27.0% of rapes have been committed by foreigners in Finland, who comprise 2.2% of population. In contrast, the rape support helpline Tukinainen reports that 6% of all callers and 11% of 10–20-year-old callers say that the rapist was a foreigner. Finnish rapists are more likely to be known personally by the victim, increasing the threshold to report. Furthermore, there are great asymmetries between nationalities of rapists.

Finland has been known to give low sentences for financial crimes such as cartel behaviour, insider trading, and tax evasion. The sentences are especially low when compared with the potential benefits of committing such crimes, as well as when compared with international standards. An example of the difference between sentence and benefits is the case of Lemminkäinen in 2006. Lemminkäinen was hit with a €68,000,000 fine for cartel. This was markedly lower than the estimated €400,000,000 Lemminkäinen would have made if receiving just 20% of the criminal profit. Executives were not sentenced to prison or fined for their involvement.

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Wikipedia