NCJ Number
202089
Editor(s)
Terttu Belgasem
Date Published
2003
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This publication presents English summaries of 12 reports of research sponsored by Finland's National Research Institute of Legal Policy, which is governed by a board appointed by the Federal Government, but has an independent status.
Abstract
One study describes police practice in the investigation of economic crime and assesses factors that affect the success and length of the investigations. The study was based on police, prosecutorial, and court documents as well as on interviews by the police investigators. This is followed by a report on research that examined the criminal careers and socioeconomic characteristics of persons convicted of drug offenses in Finland. A third research report pertains to the Finnish national contribution to an international project designed to develop quantitative research solutions for collecting information on trafficking in human beings associated with sexual exploitation in the member states of the European Union. Another study evaluated the activities pertaining to guarantees granted by the Guarantee Foundation, which was established in 1991 to assist persons with debt problems. This is done in the form of guarantees for bank loans. Other topics addressed in the research reported are trends and patterns of self-reported juvenile delinquency in Finland; the changing governance of debt problems facing Finnish households in the 1980's and 1990's; crime trends in Finland; part-time work and deviant behavior among Finnish adolescents; the punishment of juveniles in Finland from 1997 through 2001; evaluation of the practice of the youth criminal process; public opinion and the 1999 reform of the day-fine system; and the reporting of violence on the front pages of the Finnish tabloid press from 1980 through 2000.