Martti Lehti

Homicide in Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden First Findings From the European Homicide Monitor

Due to differences in definitions, data sources and criminal justice procedures, comparing homicides between countries is not without problems. To overcome these limitations, we have constructed a joint European Homicide Monitor (EHM). So far, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden constitute the basis of the database. In this contribution, we give an overview of this new data set. In doing so, we elaborate on methodological issues that arose when constructing this data set and discuss the feasibility of constructing an international and comparable homicide data set. Preliminary results show that the EHM as a joint database provides unique opportunities to closely monitor homicide across Europe.

Historical Origins of a Cross-National Puzzle Homicide in Finland, 1750 to 2000

Cross-national studies of homicide are dominated by theories that focus on inequality and other structural factors as the source of variation in the level of lethal violence. As a nation with a comparatively high homicide rate in the presence of a strong welfare state, Finland represents a puzzle to this paradigm. The apparent weakness of the structural approach opens the door for cultural explanations. As the basic step in this path, the purpose of this research is to examine the historical origins of the Finnish problem with lethal violence. The authors find that the homicide patterns responsible for the exceptional status of Finland are of relatively recent origin. The authors conclude the study by proposing that specific features of the Finnish welfare state inadvertently sustain a subculture of alcohol-related lethal violence.

Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

Current estimates of human trafficking for sexual exploitation underestimate rather than overestimate the volume. They exaggerate the role of trafficking in international prostitution of adults but underestimate trafficking in minors. About 60–80 percent of the crime is domestic, and the bulk of cross‐border trafficking is regional. The major flows run from rural areas to cities and from economically depressed regions to affluent ones. Traffic to industrialized countries is 10–20 percent of the whole; most takes place within and between third‐world countries. Prevention should concentrate on the main source countries and the most important junctions. This requires efficient police and intelligence cooperation both regionally and internationally. It is also crucial to harmonize national legislation.

The Social Composition of Homicide in Finland, 1960-2000

This article examines the social composition of homicide offenders and victims in Finland between 1960 and 2000. While many prior analyses have been based on victim-based cause-of-death statistics or aggregated rates of geographical units, the present data allowed the analysis of offender and victim populations at individual level. Both the rates and patterns of homicidal behaviour were analysed from the point of view of participants’ social characteristics. It was discovered that the social anchoring of homicide remained stable in the relative sense that the typical victims and offenders were males from the lowest stratum. However, the absolute societal position of the lowest stratum male transformed as he was made economically redundant, a change that was reflected in homicide populations. The article concludes with a discussion of the paradox between the rise of the welfare state and the expected but unrealized pacification of the lowest stratum male. Four suppressing mechanisms are suggested: alcohol availability, social selection effects, cultural factors and the unintended consequences of social policy measures. The last category refers to changes in social patterns of homicide, which made the reduction of homicide rates more difficult, meaning that the present homicide situation is particularly resistant to efforts of situational crime prevention.

Homicide Followed by Suicide in Finland: Trend and Social Locus

In the early 1960s, 15% of Finnish homicide offenders committed suicide after the crime. In 1998–2000, this ratio was 6%. The downward trend was due to the increase in non-suicidal homicide, as well as to a substantial decrease in the general homicide-suicide rate. Over the time span, the rate of suicidal homicide offenders per 100,000 population was halved. The decrease took place in the two most significant homicide-suicide types (that is, those of intimate-partner homicides and parent-child killings) and, within these crime types, in crimes committed by men. The present article describes the prevalence and trend of homicide-suicide in Finland, and examines the socio-economic correlates of this phenomenon. The findings indicate that the percentage and the rate of homicide-suicide have been consistently highest among middle classes and lowest among the unemployed and working classes. Victim-offender relationship, stressful life events, and alcohol consumption are discussed as explanations for this stable social difference.

Social Correlates of Intimate Partner Homicide in Finland: Distinct or Shared With Other Homicide Types?

The question as to whether intimate partner homicide (IPH) is committed by average people as opposed to socially disadvantaged persons has both theoretical resonance and practical salience. The gender framework predicts that IPH offenders are socially and individually less disadvantaged than other homicide offenders. The violence framework predicts that IPH offenders resemble other homicide offenders in that they tend to come from socially disadvantaged groups. We examine these perspectives using data on all homicides committed in Finland since 2002 (N = 836 offenders). The findings indicate that socially disadvantaged people are overrepresented in IPH as in other homicide types. In terms of social correlates, IPH clusters with other homicides in close relations, irrespective of the victim’s gender.

Cross-Comparative Perspectives on Global Homicide Trends

Data are available on homicide trends and patterns for 235 countries from six continents from 1950 to 2010. Recent rates range from fewer than 0.5 victim per 100,000 population to 80 and regionally from around one in Scandinavia to around 30 in Central America. Countries that share cultural, political, and social traditions usually have similar crime trends. In Western countries, lethal violence increased in the 1960s through the early 1990s, followed by declines. Elsewhere, trends may have been different as a result of local political configurations and social developments. In eastern Europe, the development of crime was affected by political turmoil after the fall of the Soviet Union and in several Latin American and Caribbean countries by unstable political conditions and the drug industry. Homicide is not decreasing in parts of the Americas and the Caribbean. Cross-sectional analyses confirm the interdependency of lethal violence with socioeconomic and political factors. The level of lethal violence is heavily dependent on the rule of law, the quality and integrity of governance, the level of democracy, and social and economic equality. No signs were detected of the effects of sanctions practices. Use of capital punishment, high rates of imprisonment, and long sentences coincide with high and increasing homicide rates—and not the other way around.

Homicide in Finland

The chapter deals with homicidal crime in Finland. It is based on existing research literature, the data of the Finnish Homicide Monitoring System (FHMS), and the main statistical data sources. Homicidal crime has been a central topic in modern Finnish criminology and forensic psychiatry since the early-1900s; the existing studies on homicide trends, the different characteristics of the crime as well as their explanations cover the period from the sixteenth century till today. Estimations on crime levels before the eighteenth century are based mainly on court records; an unbroken series of cause-of-death data of the annual number of victims of intentional homicides is available from the mid-1750s onward; court statistics data are available since the 1890s and police statistics data since the 1920s. The FHMS was created in 2002; it includes detailed information on homicides, homicide offenders, and homicide victims. During the last two centuries, homicide rates have been considerably higher and more volatile in Finland than in other parts of Scandinavia or in Western Europe; a very distinct characteristic of homicidal crime in Finland during this period has been the close linkage between the crimes and alcohol consumption situations; compared with Western Europe and North America also the age-structure of homicidal crime is in Finland today substantially older and the role of ethnic minorities in violent crime significantly smaller; about 80% of all homicides in Finland today consist of violence between middle-aged, unemployed male alcoholics. Explaining the difference between the Finnish and Scandinavian homicide rates has been a central topic in modern Finnish homicide research; explanations include, among other factors: the heritage of the Finnish wars, the more drastic socioeconomic and political modernization processes of the twentieth century, the less active and integrative employment policies of the more recent decades, and the different cultural traditions – especially those of alcohol use.

Immigrant crime in Norway and Finland

Immigrants are known to be overrepresented in the crime statistics of Nordic countries. However, the composition of immigrant populations varies across countries both in terms of immigrants’ country of origin as well as their population structure (age and sex). Cross-country comparison of crime rates is always difficult because of differences in legal systems, but it is even more challenging when using very broad categories of immigrants, lumping heterogeneous groups together. Previous studies have largely compared the entire immigrant population of a country with the majority population, which under-appreciates the heterogeneity that exists across immigrant groups. In this paper, we compare the crime rates in Norway and Finland, while adding additional nuances by reporting crime rates for 25 specific immigrant groups relative to the majority population. The data are gathered from Finnish and Norwegian administrative records, representing or comprising the resident population aged 15–64. We analyse both violent crime and property crime, and we present the results adjusted for population structure (sex and age). The results show considerable similarity in the rank order of crime rates of immigrant groups in the two Nordic countries. Although the current study is mainly descriptive, it aims to set some limits to what it is to be explained. In fact, the diversity is so great that it is questionable whether one should treat immigrants as one single group at all. Whatever the causal mechanisms driving immigrant crime are, it seems plausible that some similar processes are operating across the Nordic region.

Homicide in Finland and Sweden

Five important changes can be detected in the homicidal crime of Finland and Sweden. From the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth, concurring with the establishing of the modern centralized state, homicide rates dropped significantly. In the long term, the local variation in Swedish homicide rates decreased, probably because of the rise of the centralized state; however, the case was different in Finland, partly because of a less efficient central administration before the twentieth century. During the period 1700–2000, there was a clear social marginalization of lethal violence; this change took place earlier in Sweden than in Finland. There was a relative shift from instrumental (economy-related) to expressive violence. In the twentieth century, concurring with general urbanization, there was a considerable privatization of lethal violence in both countries as homicides moved from public places to private. The social and historical data suggest that homicide participants may have become more deviant from the mainstream society than they used to be. Overall, Nordic homicidal crime has had two major components since the early modern period. The high offending rates of the marginal lowest-stratum male population have been a stable phenomenon for five centuries. Sudden changes in homicide rates have typically been caused by young males with more heterogeneous social backgrounds.