NCJ Number
215125
Date Published
2006
Length
486 pages
Annotation
This book reports on the historical trends of crime in Finland from the mid-1900s to the 2000s. It provides an overview of Finland’s criminal justice system during the same time period, from sentencing to imprisonment.
Abstract
Reflected in the statistics on recorded crime are the societal changes in Finland over the last several decades. During the 1960s and 1970s, recorded crime increases were attributed to rapid urbanization, as well as the large post-war age cohorts reaching a crime-intensive age. This surge in recorded crime was followed by a time of more stable trends. However, during the 1980s there was an increase in some categories of crime. In the early 1990s, along with the economic recession, major property crime categories stabilized and even began to decrease like thefts. Since the 2000s, the changes in crime rates have been relatively small. This report presents crime rate trends for crimes of homicide, assaults and attempted homicides, robberies, sex offenses, thefts, thefts of motor vehicles, embezzlement, damage to property, fraud, tax offenses and economic offenses, drunk driving, narcotic offenses, juvenile crime, gender issues, foreigners and crime, fear of crime, and role of alcohol. The report provides statistical information on Finland’s criminal justice system of sanctions from the 1950s to the 2000s. The criminal justice system of sanctions includes: fines, imprisonment, and community service. In the 1950s, the prisoner rate in Finland was four times higher than other Nordic countries. However, by the beginning of the 1990s the Finnish prison population was declining. Tables and references