Responsible criminal policy / Crime and criminal policy

Criminal policy may be assessed in a framework that is defined by the logical basic elements of crime. These are the motivated and able offender, the victim or target, and control. It is only in certain combinations of these three elements that a crime can take place, and criminal policy addresses one or several of these elements.The objectives of criminal policy are defined being fourfold: 1) to minimise tha social costs of crime; 2) to minimise the costs of crime control; 3) to distribute these costs; and 4) to do this in a fair manner. It is such considerations that are to be accounted for if knowledge-based criminal policy is to be defined and implemented. In real-life terms, this is rarely being done comprehensively. Criminal policy is, in contrast, often simplistically understood as „fighting crime“, i.e. in terms of warfare.Today, criminal policy requires careful consideration in particular because both crimes and their environment are undergoing rapid change. This puts decision-making in a particularly demanding situation and accentuates the need for valid knowledge of the situation. Therefore, there is great need of updated research on old and new forms of crime, and such research should address all central elements of crime.The near future of criminal policy is much influenced by financial crisis. This creates high demands for a more consciously knowledge-based and better quality crime control. The near future may see both positive and negative developments, the negative ones being more likely if criminal policy is not made in a responsible and comprehensive manner. The alternative of a „positive“ criminal policy is suggested as a utopian but achievable goal.Key Words: crime, criminal policy, futur

Brottsutvecklingen i Finland 1980-2002

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Trafficking in Human Beings, Illegal Immigration and Finland

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How to Improve the Productivity of Crime Statistics

Problem. Police statistics are the most comprehensive continuous database on crime in most industrialized countries. They also form an important source for quantitative criminological research. They are produced primarily for administrative use and their definitions are closely connected with national legal systems. Because of this, they comprise only a selected and biased part of crime and their comparability across jurisdictions is usually poor. This also applies to their comparability with other information sources of crime, including victimization surveys.Aim. In this article, we demonstrate that by including a few basic descriptive variables (referring to the main characteristics of each criminal case) in the existing police data collecting systems, we can hugely improve their information value and their comparability.Method. We have used empirical data from Finland as an example. We have coded a randomized data sample of the assault offences reported to the police in 2005 by using two descriptive variables, proposed by the Expert Group on Violence, appointed by the Finnish National Council for Crime Prevention. After that, we have compared the results with those of the 2006 National Victimization Survey that referred to the same period and used similar descriptive variables.Results. Even using just the fe additional variables, the comparison of the two data sources gave amply new information of the measured characteristics, and in the process of both data sources. Some of the results were expected; for example, the comparison showed that violence recorded in police statistics was in terms of the injuries for men and women on average clearly more serious than the violence captured by the victimization survey. Similarly, partner violence by men had clearly been recorded in the police data more completely than partner violence by women. Some were, however, unexpected: according to our findings, for example, partner violence in private locations had the highest recording rate of the types of violence against women.Conclusions. We are proposing that national statistics authorities adopt a simple improvement that increases the usefulness of their police crime data. The only requirements are that the database is electronic and that it records crime as individual events. The improvement is done by adding a small number or descriptive variables to the already existing variables. The descriptive variables should be about the parties involved in the offence, their relationship, and some concrete circumstances of the crime. This proposal does not require a complex reorganization of the existing information systems of police forces. The reform would only mean that a few new standard variables are introduced. Most of the required information is already known to the police, it is just not coded by using standard codes.This reform would greatly improve the usefulness of the police crime data for purposes of crime analysis. It would also allow much better interpretations of crime trends and of regional crime differences. A further advantage of this reform would be that police-recorded crime and victimization survey data become directly comparable if they contain identical variables that describe the crime events. Our approach is not restricted by criminal codes, since we are not suggesting any changes to the recording principles currently applied. We are only suggesting additional variables. We emphasize that our proposal is much simpler and much more easily introduced than the one being currently recommended by the United Nations (International Classification of Crime 2015)

Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe and North America 1995-1997: Report on the Sixth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and Criminal Justice Systems

The purpose of the report is to describe public safety in the European and North American region as a whole, and in the individual countries within the region. The report is based on an analysis of national responses to the Sixth United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems. It covers the years 1995 through 1997. The Sixth United Nations Survey data have been supplemented by other information, including in particular the results of the International Crime Victim Survey

Improper influence against prosecutors and judges in Finland and Sweden: Findings from two national surveys 2008

The web survey was carried out in 2008, targeting all prosecutors and judges in office in Finland and Sweden. The forms of improper influence addressed in the questionnaire were harassment, threats, violence, vandalism and corruption. The reference period applied was the preceding 18 months. The survey was carried out simultaneously in Finland and in Sweden using an identical questionnaire. Judges and prosecutors have experience of all of the listed forms of improper influences. However, the dominant forms of influence are harassment and threats. Victimisation occurred primarily at the workplace, and only rarely in the leisure time of the respondents. Most of the perpetrators were individuals who were not connected with criminal organisations. This is the case in particular when the victim was a judge. Occasionally, however, organised crime representatives were also observed to be involved. This was true for prosecutors in particular. Swedish prosecutors were harassed and threatened by organised crime representatives significantly more often than Finnish prosecutors. It was unusual that family members of the civil servants concerned were victimised, but also some such instances were reported, some of them quite serious. Again, such incidents were more likely in Sweden than in Finland. According to the respondents, the employer organisations of the respondents had not done very much to prevent such incidents or to protect their employees from improper influences. The respondents were also of the opinion that much more should be done about the problem. The respondents had many suggestions for improvements, some of them quite sophisticated. These included, inter alia, ideas concerning the way their work was organised, the protection of personal data, access control, and the physical design of the offices and courtrooms. Overall, the responses demonstrate that the persons involved should be consulted carefully when planning and implementing new measures to prevent improper influences and to minimize their impact

Interim Project Report

The project reported here is a three country project, Estonia, Finland and the UK. It is funded by the European Commission AGIS Programme, The Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security. It investigates the issues of corruption by organised crime in relation to border controls and immigration using as a case study the Finnish - Russian and the Estonian - Russian border, the methods of illegal facilitation of people across borders, the role of crime groups and networks as well as organised crime and the relationship between illegal facilitation and exploitation in the labour market