Assault is the most common racist crime

Foreign men are attacked and women are threatened

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By Pyry Lapintie
     
      The most common racist crime committed in Finland is assault. Last year a total of rather more than 550 crimes of a racist character came to the attention of police. A third of these were classified as assault or attempted assault. Other common offences included defamation, discrimination, and making illegal threats.
      The most common location is a public area out of doors, for example a road, street, square, or park. Just under a third of reported racist crimes took place in such places. After this grouping, the largest single category was crimes taking place in restaurants, which made up around 20% of the total.
      The classic times for such offences are in the evening or at night. Around one in three were listed as having occurred in the evening, and a similar number at night. Some 16% of racist crimes take place in the afternoons, and just 4% in the mornings.
     
These details and others emerge in a report commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior and carried out by the Finnish Police College. Crimes with Racist Motivation Reported to Police, 2004 is the latest edition of an annual survey that has been appearing for several years.
      The number of reported crimes in 2004 was slightly up on 2003 (522 cases reported), but on the basis of the study it was not possible to determine whether the actual number of incidents of racially motivated crime has increased, or whether the growth was a reflection of a greater readiness among victims to report the matter to the authorities.
     
The most common victims of racially-motivated crime are the so-called "visible minorities", in other words, those who most obviously stand out from the mainstream Finnish population.
      The largest nationality represented is nevertheless Finns, who accounted for nearly half. The largest group of Finnish victims (some 30%) were Roma or gypsies, and ethnic Finns accounted for 16%. These last individuals were generally those whose spouse is a member of some minority group, or he or she was attacked while in the company of members of an ethnic minority, and was hence "a target by association".
     
The next-largest groups are Somalis, Russians, Turks, Iraqis, and Iranians. When the numbers are placed in proportion to the actual number of citizens of these countries resident in Finland, it is the Somalis who are most affected.
      The attitude to persons from countries regarded as poorer than Finland and towards people who are culturally or physically "different" is more negative, and at the lower end of the ethnic hierarchy the Somalis are joined by Arabs, Russians, and Kurds.
     
The majority of victims of racist crimes are men, at roughly 70% of all cases. Nevertheless, the share of women has been increasing on a yearly basis.
      The largest individual age-cohort is 15-24-year-olds, and over 80% of crimes reported were committed against persons from 15 to 44 years of age. Equally, more than 85% of the suspects were men, and more than 40% were males in the 15-24 years age-group. The largest group among women suspects was those of 35-44 years, where discrimination was the offence in nearly half of the cases reported.
      The most common crime against males is assault, and against women it is either defamation or illegal threats.
     
The full details of the report are available in Finnish in the link below.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 26.8.2005

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: The recession hardened attitudes towards foreigners

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Somali immigrants prefer Vantaa to Helsinki (24.8.2005)
  Kajaani Finland´s most racist city, statistics reveal (3.8.2005)

Links:
  Racially-motivated Crimes Reported to Police in Finland in 2004 (in Finnish, .pdf file)

PYRY LAPINTIE / Helsingin Sanomat
pyry.lapintie@hs.fi