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Date: April 25, 2024 Thu
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147 total results foundAuthor: Ottitsch, Andreas Title: Impact of Reduction of Illegal Logging in European Russia and on the EU and European Russia Forest Sector and Trade Summary: From the executive summary: "this report examines the potential impacts of implementing trade controls, such as the licensing scheme proposed in the European Union's FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Action Plan, aimed at preventing trade in illegally logged timber between North-Western Russia. The results are based on three linked studies: 1) an assessment of the volume of timber of unknown origin (i.e. possibly from illegal logging) produced in North-West Russia; 2) an assessment of existing controls that might prevent illegally logged material originating in the Russian Federation from entering EU-markets; 3) a scenario analysis on the impacts of a possible Voluntary FLEGT Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation." Details: Joensuu, Finland: European Forest Institute, 2005 Source: Year: 2005 Country: Finland Keywords: European Union Shelf Number: 115396 |
Author: Peutere, Laura Title: Suspected Crimes With Racist Characteristics in the Criminal Justice Process - Case Study in Helsinki, 2006. Summary: Studies on the number and characteristics of cases of racist crime reported to the police in Finland have been conducted since 1997. According to these reports, the volume of racist crime has been increasing slightly in recent years. So far, however, we have not had scientifically researched information on how the Finnish legal system deals with racist crime. This study charts the progress through the criminal justice process of suspected crimes with racist characteristics reported to the police, from the pre-trial investigation by the police to consideration of charges and further to court proceedings. The study is also intended to help improve the operations of the police and the judicial officials in the processing of cases with racist characteristics. Details: Tempere, Finland: Police College of Finland, 2009. 63p. Source: Reports of the Police College of Finland 73/2008 Year: 2009 Country: Finland Keywords: Criminal Justice System, Finland Shelf Number: 118429 |
Author: Poutvaara, Panu Title: School Shootings and Student Performance Summary: This paper studies how high school students reacted to the shocking news of a school shooting. The shooting coincided with national high-school matriculation exams. As there were exams both before and after the shooting, it was possible to perform a difference-in-differences analysis to uncover how the school shooting affected the text scores compared to previous years. The study found that the average score of young men declined due to the school shooting, whereas there was not a similar pattern for women. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2010. 20p. Source: Internet Resource; IZA Discussion Paper No. 5009 Year: 2010 Country: Finland Keywords: Gender Shelf Number: 119136 |
Author: Kivivuori, Janne Title: Supervision Mode Effects in School-Based Delinquency and Victimization Survey: Preliminary Test Summary: Supervision mode is one of the core design aspects in sensitive topics surveys conducted in schools, including self-report delinquency and victimization surveys. In the current study, two groups of 15-16-year-old students completed a self-report delinquency survey questionnaire under two different supervision conditions: one was supervised by researchers (N=239) and the other by teachers (N=243). The findings on the overall structure and patterns of delinquency are very similar irrespective of the mode of supervision. Outside supervision appears to yield higher prevalence levels of self-reported cases of property destruction and drug use, while violence reporting manifests lesser differences. Computer-related offences yielded identical results in both conditions. Students under researcher supervision reported more criminal victimizations than those under teacher supervision; the difference was most marked in theft victimization. Questions tapping into more serious victimization did not manifest clear supervision mode effect. The limitations of this small-scale preliminary study include group level randomization, and a matching process which did not preclude non-random compositional effects. Future methods research designs would benefit from larger samples and/or individual level randomization. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2011. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 20/2011: Accessed April 21, 2011 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/Satellite?blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobcol=urldata&SSURIapptype=BlobServer&SSURIcontainer=Default&SSURIsession=false&blobkey=id&blobheadervalue1=inline;%20filename=Verkko20_Kivivuori_Salmi.pdf&SSURIsscontext=Satellite%20Server&blobwhere=1296728372438&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&ssbinary=true&blobheader=application/pdf Year: 2011 Country: Finland Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency Shelf Number: 121462 |
Author: Heiskanen, Markku Title: Men's Experiences of Violence in Finland Summary: This report describes violence committed against men in Finland. The study was financed by the European Commission, the Finnish Ministry of Justice and the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The initial objective of the project was to pilot the Safety Survey of the EU (EU-SASU). Thus, the study deals both with men’s and women’s experiences of violence. Although the main focus of the report is on violence experienced by men, data on women are presented for comparison. DATA. The study targeted the 15-74-year-old Finnish-speaking population who were permanent residents of Finland. The sample comprised 7,171 persons, randomly selected by Statistics Finland from their population register. Statistics Finland collected the data between October 2009 and January 2010. The response rate was 45 per cent, hence the data consist of 3,201 interviews. Of the respondents, 1,918 were men. The study was a mixed-mode survey, meaning that the data were collected by three modes: face-to-face interview, telephone interview and internet survey. The low response rate is in the first place due to the non-response (75 %) of the internet survey. Experiences of violence were assessed for two time periods: since the respondent’s 15th birthday and during the 12 months prior to the interview. In addition, this survey explores violence committed by four types of perpetrators: strangers, acquaintances, current partners and ex-partners. Furthermore, there were questions about the consequences of the violence, such as physical injuries and psychological harm. Finally, the questionnaire addressed sexual harassment and fear of violence. THE MEN. More than one-half, or 55 per cent of all men between 15 and 74 years had experienced violence or threats since the age of 15. In the course of the last 12 months, 16 per cent of men had been victims of violence or threats. The victimisation experiences of men are dominated by physical violence. A total of 47 per cent of the men had experienced physical violence after their 15th birthday. Men were most often victims of violence committed by strangers (42 % since the age of 15 and 10 % over the last 12 months). This violence is predominantly physical violence and threats thereof. Sexual violence against men was rare. Since their 15th birthday, one-fourth of the men had been victims of violence by a person known to them. In the last 12 months, this had happened to 5 per cent. In this study, acquaintances comprise persons known to the victim, friends, relatives and family members apart from partners and ex-partners. The majority of this type of violence was committed by friends (37 %) or other acquaintances (24 %). 17 per cent of the perpetrators were clients, patients, workmates or persons in the workplace. 15 per cent of the perpetrators known to the victim belonged to the family circle or were relatives but not partners. The violence by a person known to the victim was mostly physical violence or threats thereof. In both violence committed by strangers and by persons, the perpetrators were almost always other men (about 95 % in both categories). Of men living in a partner relationship, 16 per cent had after their 15th birthday been victimised to violence or threats by their partner; six per cent had such experiences in the last year. More than one man out of five had been victimised to violence by an ex-partner. MEN AND WOMEN. Violence committed by partners was equally common among men and women. The same was true also for violence by a current partner, both during the entire partnership and in the course of the last 12 months. There was no difference regarding victimisation to physical violence, but women had experienced more often threats and sexual violence in a partner relationship. Men had experienced violence by an ex-partner much less frequently than women (22 % vs. 42 %). Men received physical injuries from violence by strangers much more frequently than women, but in the other perpetrator categories women had received injuries more often than men. This was particularly accentuated in partner violence. Men told much less often than women that the violence had caused psychological consequences such as anger, fear or depression. When comparing men’s and women’s violence experiences across perpetrator categories, a traditional profile of Finnish violence emerges. In the violence by strangers and acquaintances – for instance in regards of beating with a fist or still more serious forms of violence – the victims are mostly men. On the other hand, in particular in previous partner relationships, beating, strangling, beating the head against something, and sexual violence were directed at women more often than at men. HARASSMENT AND CONCERN. Ten per cent of the men had experienced sexual harassment in the last 12 months, and 26 per cent after their 15th birthday. The most common forms of harassment of men were passes, touching, or attempts to kiss the man against his will. More than one-half of the incidents of sexual harassment of men were committed by women. Although the risk of becoming a victim of violence committed by strangers is rather high for men, they are not worried about becoming victims of violence when walking alone in their area after dark: less than five percent of men said they felt unsafe. Victimisation to violence increases feelings of insecurity: 15 per cent of male victims of violence felt unsafe. Even though men were not worried about their personal safety, 22 per cent of them were worried about their family members or close friends being physically attacked by strangers. Details: Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), 2011. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Publication Series No. 71: Accessed November 5, 2011 at: http://www.heuni.fi/Satellite?blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobcol=urldata&SSURIapptype=BlobServer&SSURIcontainer=Default&SSURIsession=false&blobkey=id&blobheadervalue1=inline;%20filename=HEUNI%20report%2071%20Men's%20experiences%20of%20violence.pdf&SSURIsscontext=Satellite%20Server&blobwhere=1296734018191&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&ssbinary=true&blobheader=application/pdf Year: 2011 Country: Finland Keywords: Family Violence Shelf Number: 123235 |
Author: Juntunen, Marko Title: Between Morocco and Spain: Men, migrant smuggling and a dispersed Moroccan community Summary: This study concerns the social construction of gender in a context characterised by movement across international borders. What follows can be classified as the ethnography of Moroccan sha´bi young men whose lives are deeply touched by "harraga" migrant smuggling from Morocco to Spain. The main stage of this study is in Morocco but constant side-tracks opened by the subjects' social connections lead us to Spain, especially to industrial regions around Barcelona. The cultural context within which these men operate refuses to be bounded by geographical borders. In short: we are dealing with processes of constructing male gender in a cultural setting which resists labelling in geographical terms. These men, if not actually crossing borders themselves, would very much like to see themselves do so. They identify themselves in complex ways so that notions of 'belonging', 'loyalty' and 'home' are ambiguous and often contradictory. In many ways these men are between Morocco and Spain. In respect to the men that form the subject of this study, the nature of their social connections and the centrality of migration in their lives as an actual practice or aspiration make it essential to think of Morocco and migrant concentrations in Spain as a single cultural space with its flows of influences which bear upon male identities. The main interest lies in the following questions: how do these men orient in a social reality characterised by tensions between international mobility made possible by harraga and the restrictions of mobility imposed by the European Union's (EU) migration policy? What does this, in many respects new political, economic and social space mean to these men and how do they conceptualise their place in it? What do their migration practices and discourses concerning migration tell about notions of male identity and masculinity? How should we understand the choices of thousands of Moroccans who pay fortunes to migrant smugglers, embark on small open boats (pateras) and risk their lives hoping to reach the northern shore of the Mediterranean? Details: Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 2002. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed on December 8, 2011 at: http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/hum/aasia/vk/juntunen/betweenm.pdf Year: 2002 Country: Finland Keywords: Human Smuggling Shelf Number: 123508 |
Author: Finnish National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings Title: The Finnish National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings: Report 2011 Summary: Finland is a transit and destination country for dozens or even hundreds of victims of trafficking every year. The victims can be women, children or men. In Finland, human trafficking manifests itself in at least two ways: prostitution and procuring. The exploitation of foreign workers and immigrants in households and sectors such as the restaurant, construction, cleaning, metal, transport and garden industries as well as in berry-picking jobs can meet the statutory definition of a human trafficking offence. No cases of organ trafficking have been reported in Finland to date. Finnish citizens may also fall victim to human trafficking. In Finland, human trafficking is an offence which carries a severe penalty. Under our national legislation, the following acts are considered human trafficking: • sexual abuse or exploitation akin to a procuring offence; • forced labour or other demeaning circumstances; or • trafficking in human organs for financial gain. This report presents statistics on human trafficking issues recorded at the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities in 2009 and 2010, divided into customer contacts, requests for information and the Rapporteur’s own initiatives, opinions and publications. Additionally, the statistics show a small group of other matters related to human trafficking. Compared to 2009, the number of customer contacts and requests for information went up considerably. The Office and its personnel published a greater number of articles and other documents in 2010 than it did the year before. The number of media contacts also increased. Details: Helsinki: Vähemmistövaltuutettu, 2011. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Publication 8: Accessed December 1, 2012 at: http://www.ofm.fi/download/31724_Ihmiskaupparaportti_englanti.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Finland Keywords: Forced Labor Shelf Number: 127049 |
Author: Aaltonen, Mikko Title: Socioeconomic Differences in Crime and Victimization: A Register-Based Study Summary: The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and crime is one of the central themes in criminology. While empirical studies on this issue have given mixed results, strong belief in an inverse association between SES and crime underlies Finnish criminal policy, where social policy is seen as an integral part of crime prevention. However, no proper population-based analysis of socioeconomic differences in crime in Finland is available. Using a register-based sample of the general population, the current study focused on socioeconomic differences in crime and violent victimization among young adults aged 19-30. The main result of Substudy I was that the bivariate associations between the four measures of SES education, income, occupation-based social class, and unemployment history and violent crime, property crime and driving while intoxicated (DWI) are strong, education being the strongest predictor. Using a more advanced within-individual longitudinal design to account for selection processes, Substudy II focused on the temporal association between unemployment and crime. In this design, violent crime and DWI were no longer associated with unemployment, meaning that the crime rates of the same individuals did no vary by current unemployment status. Property crime rate, however, was higher during periods of unemployment. Substudies III and IV focused on violent offending and victimization. Examining police-reported male violence, Substudy III showed that low SES and prior criminality were stronger predictors of violence in private places, against both men and women, than violence in public places. Men with low SES were also more likely to be suspected of intimate partner violence. Substudy IV compared socioeconomic differences in violent victimization in register-based data and survey data, finding that socioeconomic differences in both datasets were highly sensitive to the seriousness of the violence measured: the more serious the measured violence, the greater the differences were. In sum, the results show that crime committed by young adults in Finland is heavily concentrated in the lower social strata, with victims of serious violence often in similarly poor positions. While the existence of an inverse SES-crime association is not surprising, the scale of these differences is: the most obvious methodological reason to this is the high-quality register data that actually captures people from all strata. However, it is yet unclear how much different selection mechanisms contribute to these associations. In order to find ways to reduce social exclusion and crime, earlier processes related to both individual traits and difficult environments that push individuals to paths of cumulative disadvantage need to be better understood. The effects of different social policy reforms on crime should also be analyzed. Details: Helsinki, Finland: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2013. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report No. 263: Accessed April 28, 2014 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/tutkimuksia-sarja/zIL43KwZ5/julkaisu_263.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Finland Keywords: Poverty and Crime Shelf Number: 131201 |
Author: Nordic Council of Ministers, Title: Trafficking in Human Beings in Working Life. Report from a Nordic conference in Helsinki, Finland 27-28 November 2012 Summary: The Nordic conference on human trafficking and working life discussed how people become victims of human trafficking as they seek jobs in foreign countries. The aim of the conference was to raise awareness of problems of human trafficking in the Nordic countries through a diversified perspective. The greatest challenge for Nordic stakeholders today is to identify the persons - women, men, girls and boys - who are victims of labour trafficking. It is important that victims receive information about their rights, and about the social services that are available to them. A key question is how to adapt social services to the needs of the victims. The aim was to disseminate knowledge about the various stakeholders, their roles, responsibilities, ability to identify and deal with problems on labour trafficking. The conference was built on the results and experiences obtained by authorities and organizations in the Nordic countries. At the conference practical examples of how the Nordic countries, police, prosecutors, courts, occupational safety authorities, labour market organizations and NGOs' work with issues concerning human trafficking and the labour market in the Nordic countries. Details: Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers, 2013. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2014 at: http://www.norden.org/en/publications/publikationer/2013-555 Year: 2013 Country: Finland Keywords: Forced Labor Shelf Number: 132235 |
Author: Niemi, Johanna Title: Abuse of a victim of sex trade. Evaluation of the Finnish sex purchase ban Summary: The report explores the effectiveness of the offence 'abuse of a victim of sex trade', (Criminal Code, chapter 20 section 8). Enacted in 2006, this provision prohibits the purchasing of sex from a victim of human trafficking or procuring. It is complemented by section 7 of the Public Order Act, which prohibits the purchasing and the offering for sale and selling of sex in a public place. The report also explores the situation in the UK and Sweden. Sweden has had a comprehensive sex purchase ban in place since 1999. Information on the situation in Sweden is available in a report published in 2010 and the annual reports of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings. The relevant legislation in the UK as reformed in 2009 closely resembles the Finnish corresponding legislation. Because no study of the effectiveness of the British legislation has yet been conducted, interviews were conducted to gain a better picture. The situation in Finland was explored through statistics and register data, interviews with 18 experts and a review of court documents. Statistics show that between 2006 and 2013, a total of 379 cases of 'abuse of a victim of sex trade' were registered by the police. Charges were brought against 49 persons and tried. The district courts have sentenced 42 persons for 'abuse of a victim of sex trade' or an attempt thereof. The default fine has been established at 20 day-fines. Fines for purchasing and selling sex, pursuant to the Public Order Act, were imposed in 106 cases between 2003 and 2011. Most of these fines were imposed on the sellers. Investigating and proving 'abuse of a victim of sex trade' has turned out to be challenging. The report concludes with recommendations. Details: Helsinki: Finland Ministry of Justice, 2014. 137p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 17, 2014 at: http://oikeusministerio.fi/material/attachments/om/julkaisut/FMVCU3esJ/OMSO_13_2014_Sex_136_s_korjattu.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Finland Keywords: Human Trafficking Shelf Number: 133740 |
Author: Seilonen, Aleksi Title: Administrative Detention of Migrants in the District Court of Helsinki Summary: The overarching aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the practical application of the Finnish law regulating the grounds and conditions of detention of aliens. This is the first comprehensive study on the subject and we hope that these findings will contribute to current and future discussion on detention in Finland and can be used as a basis for influencing the legislative and decision making processes. The study focuses on three primary issues: 1) the practice of detention in Finland, including statistical information as well as the main grounds of detention and their interpretation by the police and the court, 2) the right to effective judicial proceedings and 3) the conditions of detention, in particular its length and the placement of detainees in police prisons. The data for the study was collected from the District Court of Helsinki detention cases between 15 February and 31 May 2013. Altogether 57 detention hearings were monitored in place at the Court. Case records were collected, in addition to the 57 monitored cases, from 110 further cases. The data thus comprises records of a total of 167 district court cases. In addition, all detention cases from the Helsinki Court of Appeal up to 6 June 2013 were collected to support the analysis. The findings described in this report point out a number of issues which are problematic in the light of international standards: the proportionality assessment in detention decisions, the interpretation and application of the grounds of detention, matters concerning the conditions of dentition and certain aspects of the right to fair and effective judicial proceedings. Details: Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 2015. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 18, 2015 at: http://www.helsinki.fi/law-and-other/publications/detention-monitoring-report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Finland Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 134646 |
Author: Kivivuori, Janne Title: Homicide in Finland, 2002–2006. A Description Based on the Finnish Homicide Monitoring System (FHMS) Summary: For decades, the Finnish homicide rate has been higher than the corresponding rate in other Nordic Countries. Every year, about three Finns per 100,000 are killed by interpersonal violence. It is, therefore, natural that homicide research has remained among the top priorities of Finnish criminology. Summary - In 2006, the Finnish Police reported 138 homicides. The crime rate was 2.6 victims per 100,000 population. - From the 1970s till the end of the 1990s, the homicide rate remained stable (about 3 per 100,000 population), but has decreased during the last five years. • The majority of Finnish homicides occur in the context of drinking quarrels between unemployed, middle-aged male alcoholics. During the period 2002-2006, in 71% of all homicides all persons involved were intoxicated. In 85% of the crimes at least one of the persons involved was intoxicated. - In 2002-2006, 58% of male homicide offenders had prior convictions for violent crime and 37% had been in prison prior to the homicide. - Finnish homicide is regionally patterned: the northern and eastern parts of the country have higher homicide rates than the other regions. During the last decade, the gap has widened. Thus the overall drop in homicide occurrence reflects the decrease of lethal violence in the southern and western regions. - The Finnish homicide rate is one of the highest in the European Union. This is largely explained by the alcohol and drinking group related homicides of the socially marginalized men. The homicide rates of other socio-economic groups are roughly the same as in the other Scandinavian countries. - In 2002, Finland launched a national homicide monitoring system (FHMS) collecting detailed information about all homicides. This research brief is the first English-language report based on the FHMS. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2007. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 3/2007: Accessed February 27, 2015 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/KoRbDTYm7/hominfin2007.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Finland Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder Shelf Number: 134727 |
Author: Aaltonen, Mikko Title: Risk Factors of Violence in Finland: A Register Based Study Summary: Many policy decisions affect people's life circumstances in a manner that may also influence their likelihood or propensity to commit crimes. If alcohol availability is greatly increased, the incidence of alcohol related brawls, fights and family violence may show a rise. If poverty increases due to societal processes or policy decisions, this may result in more people experiencing criminogenic strain. If economy changes, or is deliberately changed, so that people have to move from one place to another, this may break social ties causing control deficits and increase in crime. Clearly, it would be useful to know how social policy decisions are translated into increases or decreases in crime. In an ideal situation, policy programmes would be evaluated by experimental research with adequate control groups of individuals or aggregated groups (such as areas). However, practical, ethical and legal obstacles often stand in the way of experimental design. On rare occasions, natural experiments are available when, for example, policy decisions alter the availability of alcohol (Kivivuori 2003; Siren & Lehti 2006). More commonly, policy makers must do without causal (or any kind of) evaluations. The Risk Factors of Crime in Finland (RFCF) research project was launched to provide additional insight into the likely policy consequences of social policy decisions. It utilizes the abundance of register data available on the potential risk factors of crime, and studies their association with crime involvement. In the future, the possibility of simulating the crime effects of various kinds of social and criminal policy changes will be probed. In principle, such simulation results could be used in the quantitative estimation of crime effects of legislative and other political or societal changes. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy< 2008. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 6/2008: Accessed February 27, 2015 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/C8egqtJ2d/riskitekijat2008.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Finland Keywords: Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder Shelf Number: 134728 |
Author: Kivivuori, Janne Title: The Robustness of Self-Control as a Predictor of Recidivism Summary: In prior research, we examined the correlates of self-assessed re-offending probability (SARP) in a sample of Finnish short-term prisoners (Kivivuori and Linderborg 2009 and 2010). We observed that multiple variables tapping the social adjustment and social deprivation of the prisoner were associated with SARP. Having few or no siblings, having lived outside nuclear family conditions during childhood, lack of parental supervision during youth, and negative events during adulthood increased the variety of offences the prisoner projected to his post-release future. Negative events were incidents that reflect poverty or the breaking of social ties: being fired from a job, divorce, being evicted from an apartment, need to seek social assistance, need to loan money from friends and relatives, and mental health problems. The research additionally included two measures tapping the dimension of personal self-control. We observed that low self-control and high youth crime involvement were associated with increased SARP. One of the basic goals of the research is to examine social factors and self-control as correlates of SARP, when both are simultaneously controlled in a single model. In this respect, the core finding was that social factors and self-control were both significant correlates of SARP. These findings were based on a cross-sectional survey of short-term prisoners in Finland (Kivivuori & Linderborg 2009 and 2010). The basic structure of the data was cross-sectional, even though the outcome variable was pseudo-longitudinal (offences subjectively projected to post-release future). In reporting the cross-sectional findings, we also anticipated the logical next step, namely, replacing the subjective and cross-sectional outcome variable (SARP) with a genuinely longitudinal outcome variable (Kivivuori & Linderborg 2010, 137). In this research brief, we build on this by using a genuinely longitudinal outcome variable of recorded recidivism (RR) after release from prison. Replacing SARP with RR enabled us to do three things: first, we examined whether the prisoners' estimates concerning their own future behaviour were correct. Second, we assessed whether variables associated with SARP remain robust predictors when their link to RR is investigated. Third, we tentatively assessed whether SARP itself, now conceptualised as prisoner desistance optimism during the prison term, is a predictor of recidivism. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2012. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 25/2012: Accessed February 27, 2015 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/E9Lo8aUWV/25_research_note.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Finland Keywords: Desistance Shelf Number: 134729 |
Author: Kivivuori, Janne Title: Supervision Mode Effects in School-Based Delinquency and Victimization Survey: Preliminary Test Summary: The Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study is a standardised indicator system with repeated nationally representative sweeps since 1995. Targeting ninth grade students (15–16-year-olds), the system is based on self-administered paper-and-pencil responding in school classes supervised by teachers who follow a strict data collection procedure. The respondents fill out the anonymous questionnaire in a classroom situation supervised by a teacher. Originally, the decision to use teachers as data collectors was influenced by an Icelandic methods study which indicated that student responses to drug use-related questions were not influenced by the supervision mode used (outside vs. teacher supervision, see Bjarnason 1995). The finding was subsequently supported by a Swiss study where Lucia et al. (2007) compared paper-and-pencil data collection with computerized data collection. Here, the paper-and-pencil data collection situation was supervised by outside researchers, while most of the computer mode data collection was supervised by a teacher (p. 47). Since the findings were roughly similar in both paper & pencil and computer conditions, this suggests that the mode of supervision did not have a considerable impact on the results. More recently, a Swiss study examined the influence of supervision condition in computerized data collection, and observed few if any differences (Walser & Killias, forthcoming). In the future, the FSRD will be shifted to computer-based administration. In that context, various types of methodological research are conducted. This research brief reports on the findings of a preliminary test of supervision mode influences within the paper-and pencil mode. Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2011. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 20/2011: Accessed February 27, 2015: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/MWnVSqLYd/Verkko20_Kivivuori_Salmi.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Finland Keywords: Child Victims Shelf Number: 134730 |
Author: Kivivuori, Janne Title: Correlates of Violent Behaviour among Finnish Adolescents Aged 12 to 18: Exploring the Feasibility of a Health Survey in Criminological Analysis Summary: Due to recent incidents of massacre-type violent crime committed by young adults, juvenile violence has become a particular point of interest in Finland and the other Nordic countries. In the future, there is a need to integrate public health and criminological perspectives in the study of youth crime. In this research brief, we explore whether the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey can be used in the analysis of violence. We first describe the prevalence of violent behaviours by age and gender in the nationally representative AHLS data. We then explore the correlates of violent behaviour in each of the four age cohorts, with a particular focus on using the available measures as indices of criminological theories. We use data from the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey in 2011 (Raisamo et al. 2011). The AHLS is a nationwide (Finland) monitoring system of health and health behaviours of adolescents. The study targets a nationwide sample of 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18- year-olds. In 2011, the number of respondents was 4566 and the overall response rate was 47 per cent. The respondents could answer via the Internet with personal usernames and passwords or via a paper questionnaire. The first request was sent in February 2011. Since response rates and sample sizes vary by gender/age group, we calculated weights to adjust for such differences. Regarding the measurement of violence, this research brief is based on the methodology of a self-report delinquency survey. The method is widely used in contemporary criminology globally and also in Nordic crime research (Kivivuori & Bernburg 2011; Kivivuori 2011). It is generally regarded as manifesting high reliability and satisfactory validity, especially in young age cohorts (Kivivuori 2007). Details: Helsinki: National Research Institute of Legal Policy, 2012. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief 26/2012: Accessed February 27, 2015 at: http://www.optula.om.fi/material/attachments/optula/julkaisut/verkkokatsauksia-sarja/9hcn8gXTT/26_research_brief.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Finland Keywords: Juvenile Delinquents Shelf Number: 134731 |
Author: Huttunen, Kristiina Title: The Effect of Rehabilitative Punishments on Juvenile Crime and Labor Market Outcomes Summary: This paper estimates the effect of a rehabilitative punishment on the post-release outcomes of juvenile criminals using a unique Finnish data set on sentences and punishments merged with the longitudinal population census for 1990-2007. The rehabilitative program was aimed at improving the social skills and labor market attachment of young offenders aged 15 to 17. A variety of research designs are used to isolate the effect of the juvenile punishment and to control for observable characteristics of the young offenders. The juvenile punishment experiment was initially conducted in certain criminal courts only and was applicable for youths aged under 18, giving rise to a differences-in-differences and triple differences setup. The juvenile punishment reduced reoffending during the year immediately after sentencing, but had no long-term effect on reoffending nor on labor market outcomes Details: Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2014. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 8403: Accessed July 20, 2015 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp8403.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Finland Keywords: Employment Shelf Number: 136110 |
Author: Mattila, Meri-Tuuli Title: The Boys of Icehearts and the 'Hood: A perspective on the everyday realities of growing up in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Finland Summary: The Boys of Icehearts and the 'Hood: A perspective on the everyday realities of growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Finland. The premise of this thesis is to present the case of young boys growing up in a relatively disadvantaged neighborhood fairly typical of its kind in contemporary suburban Finland. It aims to give a voice to the everyday realities and lived experience of its target group through ethno-methodological descriptions of young boys growing up in the suburb of Mikkola in northeastern Vantaa in the capital city region, and the exposure method created in the context of diaconal community development work in mainland Europe. Moreover, the Icehearts method is explored in as much depth as is feasible within the scope of a Bachelor's Thesis in Social Services from a University of Applied Science. The key concepts of validation and acceptance, and disadvantaged childhood with its everyday realities are explored from the perspective of the integral theory in social work and critical theory in social science research. The Icehearts method, simultaneously applied in school work, free time activities and hobbies, can act as a mediator bridging communication and cooperation between schools and homes, acting as a local force for change and a channel of communication between a given neighbourhood, the district social services and school boards, municipal government as well as national politics. It is a cross-functional multi-professional approach for bringing together the needs of local children and families, and the objectives of schools as well as national social policies implemented on the municipal level, whose common goal is often underscored by voluminous legislation and massive bureaucracy coupled with the scarcity of available resources. The findings suggest that in countries with a highly developed welfare infrastructure, such as Finland, team sports have consistently been gaining ground as a social work method for children that brings social work to the neighbourhood level, close to the families, schools and communities. Sports can be therapeutic, sports can be used as a tool for democracy, and sports can be, and are used as a method in social work worldwide. Details: Helsinki, Finland: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, 2014. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/82368/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Finland Keywords: At-risk Youth Shelf Number: 146290 |
Author: Murtonen, Mervi Title: More value from security: Redefining value creation and service provision in security services Summary: This report is a collection of research papers written in a three-year research project addressing customer value in security services. It consists of 12 individual papers and a summative introduction. In theoretical terms, the aim of the report is to present, analyse, and discuss value creation in business-to-business security services. From a managerial angle, the report aims at understanding of how security-service providers could better meet customers' needs and requirements. The research project behind these papers was designed to explore how customer value is present in current security-service provision. The purposefully selected sample was composed of 10 companies, all of which participated in the research project. Eight of the companies represented security-service providers, while the other two were customer companies, one a large private company and the other a public organisation. In addition to these two customer organisations taking part in the project, 60 other customer companies and dozens of individual end users were interviewed, for a fuller and more coherent picture of customer-perceived value in security services. The primary data collection method was in-depth interviews. Among the other methods used were online surveys, observation of service encounters, and various workshops with the participating companies. All the papers share the same purpose - to present, analyse, and discuss value creation in business-to-business security services - but they differ in the data on which the analysis is based or in the viewpoint, research method, central theme, or research question. As a result, this report proposes a specific frame of reference for understanding the prerequisites for value creation in one particular area of business-to-business services. The summative analysis and interpretation of the papers' key findings were organised in line with that framework, following the structure of a content-process-context model. The conclusions of this report are presented after the main findings of the papers and address the following themes: 1) service-orientation of security companies, 2) value perceptions of customers and security-service providers, and 3) meeting of customers' various security needs. As an outcome of this report, a revised framework is presented, and its implications both for security services and for other business-to-business services are discussed. Details: Espoo, Finland: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, 2012. 180p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed June 2, 2018 at:; https://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/science/2012/S25.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Finland Keywords: Crime Against Business Shelf Number: 150439 |
Author: Global Detention Project Title: Immigration Detention in Finland: Limited Use of "Alternatives," Restrictive Detention Review, Divisive Political Debate Summary: Finland does not detain as many migrants and asylum seekers as do neighbouring Sweden and other nearby European countries. However, the country's authorities rarely grant "alternatives to detention," instead deeming detention to be the most efficient and cost-effective method for removing non-citizens from the country. District court detention decisions tend to be very brief, and hearings often last less than ten minutes. Although conditions in the country's two specialised immigration detention centres are generally adequate, Finland continues to use police and border guard stations for immigration detention purposes. Details: Geneva, Switzerland: Global Detention Project, 2018. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2018 at: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/immigration-detention-in-finland-limited-use-of-alternatives-restrictive-detention-review-divisive-political-debate Year: 2018 Country: Finland Keywords: Border Guards Shelf Number: 151433 |
Author: Keskinen, Suvi Paivikki Title: The Stopped - Ethnic Profiling in Finland Summary: This research examined ethnic profiling in Finland with a focus on its prevalence, forms and interpretations of (1) people who experienced profiling and (2) the police. The study also analysed the practices and logics that can lead to ethnic profiling. The research sought to produce knowledge of the ethnicised, racialised, gendered and age-based distinctions and practices related to profiling. Moreover, it examined the effects of ethnic profiling of those targeted by it and the strategies they use in and after situations they experienced as ethnic profiling. The study made use of several kinds of quantitative and qualitative methods and data: individual and focus group interviews, participatory observation, and survey questionnaires. Altogether 185 persons were interviewed. 145 belonged to ethnicised/racialised minorities and were interviewed about their experiences of ethnic profiling. Moreover, 26 police officers and 14 other experts were interviewed. The interviews were conducted in the Helsinki metropolitan area and Turku between 2015 and 2017. The survey data (N=362) included young adult respondents of 15-29 years from the Finnish majority population and four ethnic minority groups (Russian, Kurdish, Arabic and Somali speakers). This research has shown that those belonging to racialised minorities are under surveillance by several actors in many kinds of urban spaces. Stops and experiences of ethnic profiling are part of their lives through both personal incidents and in the stories they hear about other minority persons' encounters with public and private security personnel. Sites where stops and situations of ethnic profiling took place were multiple, and among those mentioned were: streets and parks, railway and metro stations, cars, shops and shopping centres, restaurants and bars, airports and harbours. In addition to the police, the interviewees also mentioned security guards, border guards, customs officers, salespersons and bouncers as actors who stopped or followed them only or predominantly on the basis of their ethnic or racial backgrounds. Experiences of being stopped predominantly on the basis of their ethnicity or race affect many everyday life environments: they can interrupt journeys to school or work, or make ordinary shopping situations uncomfortable. They make the persons stopped aware of the fact that they are perceived of as "others" - those not belonging to the country where they live and perhaps were also born - and in some cases, as those expected to commit criminal acts because of their ethnic or racial backgrounds. This study has also shown that responses to and interpretations of stops differ. While some informants pointed out that they did not care about being stopped for identity control or that they were treated respectfully during the encounter, most of the interviewed persons told that the stops and searches were unpleasant, annoying or humiliating experiences. Their responses ranged from the normalisation of experiences, which occurred on a constant basis and were not expected to change in the near future, to resistance and claiming one's rights as individuals or racialised minorities. Negative encounters with the police, and experiences unjust treatment by the very same authorities that should guarantee the safety of the persons stopped, are likely to reduce the willingness of racialised minority persons to turn to the police when help is needed and deter their interest to inform the police about crimes. Intersections of ethnicity, race, gender, age and class proved to be central elements for understanding ethnic profiling in both qualitative and quantitative data sets. The study indicated that young men belonging to racialised minorities are predominantly targeted by ethnic profiling practices, especially in spaces such as streets, other outdoor locations, traffic hubs and public transports. They are the main targets of the police, and to some extent security guards', actions. Women and older persons are also stopped in these spaces, but for these groups, experiences of ethnic profiling occur more often in shops, shopping centres and border control points and involve security guards, shop assistants, customs officers and the police. Police stops while driving are also common, especially for the Roma minority and black men. The study found that the police practices that bear the risk of ethnic profiling are related to (1) the control of foreign nationals, also known as internal immigration control, (2) suspicion and search related to crimes, (3) public order policing and (4) traffic stops. The risks of ethnic profiling in relation to the control of foreign nationals can be attributed to several reasons. The Finnish Alien's Act does not give a sufficient criterion for reasonable suspicion, and thus the police are not required to specify the grounds for their checks. The subsequent wide discretionary power leads police to use their intuition or "gut feeling", discussed as tacit knowledge in the research, to identify targets of control. Rather than information that would clearly be related to a possible immigration law offence of the person who is stopped, this approach creates a problematic possibility for selections that are made on the basis of generalised criteria and racialised expectations. While the police state that they use language skills to inquire into the "foreignness" of the persons they consider stopping, this does exclude the possibility that the original reason for deciding to stop somebody was based on racialised grounds. The interviews with the police support the information provided by the interviews with stopped persons which show that the initial reason for the approach is based on ethnic or racial criteria, after which the question of language is raised. The practices of police can often include a direct, or more commonly an indirect, reference to seek for "non-Finnish looking persons", i.e. non-white persons. This study also reflected the inadequacy of registering the grounds for stops and ID-checks, especially in cases in which the stopped person was found to be a Finnish citizen or in possession of a valid residence permit. Practices that only or predominantly register stops in which the reason for an ID-check or other police action was grounded omit information about the whole phenomenon and hinder investigation on (the risks of) ethnic profiling. The survey indicated that acts of control by various security authorities might be selective and partly based on ethnicity. The control acts of security guards in particular seem to include explicit ethnic profiling. Young respondents of Somalian backgrounds reported having been the target of security guards acts of control nearly ten times, and young persons with Middle Eastern backgrounds nearly six times, as often as the Finnish majority youth, without an apparent reason. The same does not fully apply to the police. It seems however, that police control is an influential topic amongst some racialised minorities, since relatively many of them report knowing people who have been stopped by the police. Moreover, personal experiences of being stopped as well as the knowledge of other people being stopped are associated with different aspects of societal trust and feelings of belonging. Targeted and unjust control acts by various security authorities may thus hamper the level of trust towards Finnish society as well as the willingness to contribute to it. Both the interviews and the survey analysis point toward a need for information regarding the rights of those stopped and the complaint mechanisms related to experiences of ethnic profiling. A majority of the respondents in the survey requested such information and were not sure of their options had they wished to submit a complaint. Despite the many experiences of ethnic profiling they described, none of the interviewed persons reported filing a complaint. Details: Helsinki: University of Helsinki, Swedish School of Social Science, 2018. 160p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 12, 2018 at: https://www.helsinki.fi/sites/default/files/atoms/files/notat118en.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Finland Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 151495 |
Author: Koskenoja, Maija Title: An Unknown Future: A Report on the Effectiveness of Legislation Concerning Assistance for Victims of Human Trafficking Conclusions and Recommendations Summary: Abstract The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman and the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) jointly implemented an assessment of legislation that applies to assistance for victims of human trafficking in Finland (Act on the reception of persons seeking international protection and on the identification of and assistance to victims of trafficking in human beings, (746/2011). The report is based on extensive document and interview material including, for example, the entries in client records concerning assistance provided to 66 victims of human trafficking. In addition, a total of 83 specialists working in the field of counteracting human trafficking across Finland were interviewed for the report. The report shows that the social and health administration in municipalities is not familiar with the act that applies to the reception of and assistance to victims of human trafficking and that the special status of victims of human trafficking as recipients of services is not realised in municipalities. Victims of human trafficking do not always receive the statutory services they would be entitled to. There are also Finnish citizens among these victims. The report also reveals that there are people in Finland who, in spite of their need for assistance for reasons related to human trafficking, do not get sufficient help from the system of assistance for victims of human trafficking, or who do not find their way to or are not within the scope of the assistance provided by the authorities. According to the report, a central reason for this is the strong link between the provision of assistance and the process of bringing perpetrators to justice (the criminal process) that results from legislation and its application. This link seems to have become stronger as a result of the legislative amendment that entered into force in 2015. All in all, the system of assistance for victims of human trafficking, which is managed by the reception centre in Joutseno, carries out good work with its clients as well as good cooperation with other authorities. Based on the report, the most important recommendations are: 1. Enacting a special act that applies to assistance for victims of human trafficking, 2. Issuing instructions to municipalities for the application of legislation concerning assistance for victims of human trafficking and, 3. Improving the operational capacities of non-governmental organisations. Details: Valtioneuvoston: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland 2018. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 9, 2019 at: https://tietokayttoon.fi/documents/1927382/2158283/An+unknown+future.pdf/de58c765-d4f7-4ddf-b23c-345ec1c65686/An+unknown+future.pdf.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Finland Keywords: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Contro Shelf Number: 154050 |
Author: Huttunen, Kristiina Title: Lost Boys: Access to Secondary Education and Crime Summary: We study the effect of post-compulsory education on crime by exploiting a regression discontinuity design generated by admission cut-offs to upper secondary schools in Finland. We combine data on school applications with data on criminal convictions and follow individuals for 10 years. Our results show that successful applicants are less likely to commit crimes during the first five years after admission. Crime is reduced both during and outside the school year, indicating that the channel through which schooling affects crime cannot be explained by incapacitation alone. We find no effect on crime committed after 6 years from admission. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), 2019. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper no. 12084: Accessed February 4, 2019 at: Year: 2019 Country: Finland Keywords: Education and Crime Shelf Number: 154480 |
Author: Finland. Ministry of Justice Title: Jokela School Shooting on 7 November 2007: Report of the Investigation Commission Summary: On 7 November 2007 a bloody deed took place in Jokela where a senior high school student shot eight persons and himself in a school centre. The reasons for the school shooting were multifarious and complex, and the shooting constituted a deliberate criminal act showing the methodical nature that constitutes an essential element of murder. The marginalization of the perpetrator was of a special kind, the result of several contributory factors. The family, upbringing and the school community but also society as a whole, nowadays including the Internet environment, are in a prime position for preventing marginalization. To prevent school shootings, time consuming work has to be carried out simultaneously on different fronts to find solutions to several issues. The Investigation Commission presents 13 recommendations to reduce the probability of school shootings and lessen the harm done by them. Many of the recommendations involve the prevention of marginalization. According to the Investigation Commission, student care should be developed so that the resources will correspond to recommendations, the work will be systematic, efforts will be made to actively identify the problems of the students and the performance of support measures ensured. Mental health services should be developed so that cooperation between basic health care, specialised health care and the social services will be smooth and a young person in need of help will get the best possible comprehensive care. Systematic and well-functioning practices to prevent bullying should be actively used in the schools. Intervention against school bullying should be made at an early stage and the situation followed up. The perpetrator found both models for the school shooting and like-minded discussion partners on the Internet. With the help of the Internet he was also able to ascertain the motives and thoughts of previous school shooters. In addition, he used the Internet to get publicity for his act. The Investigation Commission recommends that the Internet should be more comprehensively moderated and the web tip information system of the police enhanced. Among other things, the criminalisation of the preparation of an offence against life could give the police a better chance to pinpoint the identity of a person planning such an act. The Investigation Commission also takes a position on the development of the co-operation between the police, the Department for Rescue Services and the paramedic services as well as on the improvement of official information. The improvement of the work of the media is considered separately on the basis of a separate statute on the investigation of the event, and the Investigation Commission recommends stricter self-regulation. Details: Helsinki: The Author, 2009. 148p. Source: Internet Resource: Publication 2009:1: Accessed February 8, 2019 at: http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/76172/omju_2009_1_jokela_school_shooting_on_7_november_2007.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Finland Keywords: Gun Violence Shelf Number: 154537 |
Author: Finland. Ministry of Justice Title: Kauhajoki School Shooting on 23 September 2008 - Report of the Investigation Commission Summary: On 23 September 2008, a school shooting took place in Kauhajoki when a student in the local polytechnic entered his school, shot nine students in his study group, a teacher, and finally himself. The perpetrator carried fuel with him which he used to start several fires in the building. Of the students who were in the classroom when the incident took place, three survived, one of whom received a gunshot wound in the head. The psychosocial damage caused by the incident was considerable. An investigation commission was appointed to look into the incident and its background, as well as the activities of the authorities, other operators involved in the incident, and the media. The main results of the investigation are presented in the 28 conclusions and 9 recommendations included in the report. The purpose of the recommendations and the entire investigation process was to enhance general security by learning from the incident. The fact that the perpetrator ended up committing this act was the result of a long process involving many factors. He had been suffering from mental health problems for approximately ten years and his condition had taken a turn for the worse. Several factors were involved during the course of the perpetrator's life which contributed to his problems. With hindsight, it seems probable that the perpetrator would have benefited from being examined by a specialist in psychiatry. In the light of the information currently available, it is impossible to establish beyond any doubt why the young man's mental health problems were channelled into an admiration for school shootings and, eventually, led to him committing the deed, which was clearly modelled on earlier school shootings. The perpetrator used a self-loading or semi-automatic firearm, which was small-calibre but still capable of inflicting serious damage. The investigation commission recommends that firearms capable of firing multiple shots in a very short period of time be made illegal, and that only guns that do not allow the easy infliction of such carnage be available for hobby purposes. With respect to other types of firearms, the investigation commission recommends that a stricter licensing policy be implemented. A dissenting opinion on firearm recommendations has been recorded, however. To enhance the mental health care services available for young people, the committee also recommends that antidepressants not be prescribed for persons younger than 23 years of age without a thorough examination by a specialist doctor. Other recommendations presented in the report concern the enhancement of student health care, particularly mental health care; the enhancement of interaction between generations in educational institutions; comprehensive security planning in educational institutions; shared command responsibility between authorities in operational situations; cooperation between authorities in preventive work; and the coordination of psychosocial support. Details: Helsinki: The Author, 2010. 194p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 20-19 at: http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/76234/omso_39_2010_kauhajoki_school_shooting_194_s.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Finland Keywords: Gun Violence Shelf Number: 154539 |
Author: Piispa, Minna Title: Turvallisuuden kokemukset vastaanottokeskuksissa (Security experience reception centers) Summary: IMMIGRANTS, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND CRIMINALITY: A citizen of a foreign country who was born abroad and speaks some other language than Finnish as his or her native language but who is habitually resident in Finland is considered an immigrant in Finland. The majority of immigrants in Finland originate from areas that are culturally relatively close to Finland. The number of foreign citizens and immigrants has strongly increased in Finland in the 2000s. In 2015, the share of foreign citizens of the population living in Finland was around four per cent. The number of foreign citizens seeking international protection in Finland increased during the autumn 2015 in an unprecedented way. The majority of asylum seekers came from Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. The situation posed a number of challenges to the authorities, and new reception centres had to be founded at a brisk pace. Generally speaking, the number of offences committed by foreigners and immigrants is approximately at the same level as the number of offences committed by Finnish people. The amount of international organised crime has remained relatively low compared to many other EU countries. Offences committed by asylum seekers have given rise to a lot of public discussion. Most violent crimes committed by asylum seekers have been directed at other asylum seekers. The share of foreigners among persons suspected of sexual offences is relatively high, which is partly explained by the high share of young men among this population group. The risk of an immigrant to become a victim of a crime is higher than that of a native Finn. The relative share of foreigners among crime victims is also higher than the share of Finns. Asylum seekers are often involved in different kinds of conflicts at reception centres, where the atmosphere may be very tense. It is likely that many asylum seekers who become a victim of a crime do not report the crime to the authorities, for example because they do not trust the authorities or because they do not know whether a certain act constitutes an offence in the first place. Details: Valtioneuvosto, Finland: Ministry of Justice, Criminal Policy Department, 2017. 62p. Source: Internet Resource (In Finnish): Accessed May 30, 2019 at: https://rikoksentorjunta.fi/documents/5235988/5514049/2017-2+Turvallisuuden+kokemukset+vastaanottokeskuksissa/ab47a366-c330-45c4-9218-f56e47cbaf9e/2017-2+Turvallisuuden+kokemukset+vastaanottokeskuksissa.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Finland Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 156080 |
Author: Tanttari, Sonja Title: Petosrikollisuus ja sen ehkaisy Rikoksentorjuntakatsaus 2017 (Fraud and its Prevention: Crime Prevention Review 2017) Summary: The number of fraud offences has been increasing drastically in the 2010s both in Finland and in many other European countries. According to the statistics compiled by the police, the number of frauds and attempted frauds has doubled in Finland between the years 2010 (20,380 cases) and 2016 (40,416 cases). Especially the number of means of payment frauds has increased significantly. Studies on crime victims also show that the number of certain types of frauds and scams targeted at private persons has increased. Frauds cause remarkable economic losses to the victims and society, and therefore we need ever more information on frauds and the means to prevent them. In spring 2017, the National Council for Crime Prevention appointed an expert working group to chart the frequency and characteristics of fraud offences targeted at private persons in today's Finland. The group was also tasked with issuing recommendations on measures that could be taken to prevent these frauds. The working group consisted of representatives of the police, the prosecution service, the financial sector, and the consumer authority, among others. The working group gathered its observations and recommendations in a crime prevention review which was published in December 2017. The review focuses on three types of fraud: online marketplace fraud, identity theft and fraud targeted at older people. RECOMMENDATIONS ON MEASURES TO BE TAKEN BY PROFESSIONALS IN VARIOUS SECTORS: The working group concluded that fraud prevention requires not only cooperation between authorities but also contribution of banks and various organisations, for example. Active and proactive information provision by the key authorities, such as the police and the consumer authority, is required and plays a crucial role here. Information must be provided through various channels to reach the different target groups. Banks should provide their customers with advice on how to use their accounts and means of payment safely. Providing this kind of advice to older people is particularly important. The working group also proposes certain improvements to the exchange of information between banks in order to increase the possibilities to intervene in the monetary transactions of criminals. Online marketplace sites can make scamming more difficult or decrease the occurrence of scams for example by providing good, detailed instructions for their users or by improving the technical security arrangements on the sites. In addition to information on online marketplace frauds, the review also contains observations on subscription traps targeted at ordinary consumers. A subscription trap refers to a situation where a consumer is misled into entering into a long-term contract without him or her being aware of doing so. The working group emphasizes that authorities must inform consumers of the dangers posed by subscription traps. Intervening in the activities of companies setting subscription traps is challenging, because many of them operate abroad. When it comes to identity theft, the working group points out that the EU Data Protection Regulation, which will become applicable in Finland as of the spring 2018, will enhance security in the use of personal data. The working group reminds, however, that authorities should review their practices when it comes to sending paper letters to citizens. Letters addressed to clients may contain personal data that may end up in wrong hands. The prevention of frauds targeted at older people requires the contribution of professionals in many fields and awareness raising among older people themselves. Older people are targeted with many different types of fraud, as offenders take advantage of the vulnerable position of the victim. For example, the number of scams involving fake police officers increased significantly in Finland in 2016-2017. The review emphasizes that professionals working with older people and older people's families and friends are in key position here. They can protect older people from becoming victims of fraud by informing them of potential scams and by advising them on ways to deal with attempted scams. Information provided by the police also plays an important role here, and the police has run campaigns informing citizens of scams involving fake police officers. Details: Valtioneuvosto, Finland: Ministry of Justice, Criminal Policy Department, 2017. 50p. Source: Internet Resource (In Finnish): Accessed May 30, 2019 at: https://rikoksentorjunta.fi/documents/5235988/5514049/2017-5+Petosrikollisuus+ja+sen+ehk%C3%A4iseminen+Rikoksentorjuntakatsaus+2017/8b41ff94-16f0-4932-ad84-a0486bbecc81/2017-5+Petosrikollisuus+ja+sen+ehk%C3%A4iseminen+Rikoksentorjuntakatsaus+2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Finland Keywords: Fake Police Officers Shelf Number: 156081 |
Author: Piispa, Minna Title: Rikoksentorjunnan Mahdollisuudet Lahiympariston Turvallisuuden Parantamisessa (Potential Crime Prevention Improving Safety and Surroundings) Summary: A recent review drawn up by the National Council for Crime Prevention deals with the improvement of safety in the local environment and gives recommendations on how to take the crime prevention perspective into consideration in the planning and design of the built environment and how to engage residents in the planning process. The crime prevention review examines the different elements of the built environment that affect criminality and the sense of safety. Several studies on the factors directly and indirectly affecting the sense of safety have been conducted, but they are not well-known and the information contained in them is not systematically utilised at the different stages of the planning process. Furthermore, the review introduces different models for increasing the sense of safety in neighbourhoods and residential areas. These include participatory budgeting, resident-oriented development of the urban environment and activities that aim to remove prejudice and conflicts. The models have been charted as part of the implementation of the National Crime Prevention Programme. Recommendations to support local safety planning: Local safety planning expertise should be utilised in the planning processes. For example, the police could comment on the plans of the point of view of the crime prevention also in addition to the traffic safety. Local residents should be consulted at the different stages of the planning process, and a wide range of different methods should be utilised in the consultation. The National Council for Crime Prevention encourages municipalities to develop and introduce new practices to engage their residents in the creation of a pleasant and safe living environment. The relevant actors should make use of various methods to support good relations between neighbours and arrange different kinds of common events. For preventing and resolving conflicts in residential areas, the Council recommends the use of dialogue-based methods. Details: Valtioneuvosto, Finland: Ministry of Justice, 2019. 38p. Source: Internet Resource (In Finnish): Accessed May 30, 2019 at: https://rikoksentorjunta.fi/en/article/-/asset_publisher/crime-prevention-perspective-into-urban-planning Year: 2019 Country: Finland Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 156082 |
Author: Wahlbeck, Osten Title: National Report on the Governance of the Asylum Reception System in Finland Summary: The system of governance of the national reception system in Finland can be described as a centralised state-led system with a top-down decision-making, where the municipalities and civil society are key partners in implementation processes, but they can only indirectly influence the governance of the reception system. Reception and integration are formally two different areas of practice, with the state as responsible for reception measures and the municipalities responsible for integration measures. The centralisation of the system has involved the strengthening of the role of the Finnish Immigration Service. The administrative reforms involve a long history of centralisation and Europeanisation of the administration, which predates the so-called migration crisis of 2015. A convergence of the functioning, accessibility and quality of reception services is an aim of the centralised national system. Yet, the system also involves structural conflicts of interest between local and national perspectives, which are strengthened by the legal and administrative division of reception and integration into two different areas of practice. Details: Chemnitz: Technische Universität Chemnitz Institut für Europaische Studien Humangeographie mit Schwerpunkt Europaische Migrationsforschung, 2019. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 25, 2019 at: http://ceaseval.eu/publications/WP3_Finland.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Finland Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 156627 |