Homicide rate higher in provincial towns than in Helsinki
Most killings alcohol-related
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The greatest number of homicides in Finland in recent years have taken place in medium-sized provincial towns, says a study conducted by the National Research Institute of Legal Policy at the request of Helsingin Sanomat.
Researcher Martti Lehti placed cities with more than 25,000 residents in order, according to which had the greatest number of homicides per capita between 2000 and 2006.
Topping the list was Imatra in the southeast of Finland. Also, Lahti, Kerava, Joensuu, and Pori were in the top five.
The study reveals as untrue the claim that there would be more homicides in large cities than in smaller towns.
The three largest cities, Helsinki, Espoo and Tampere, have had fewer killings than average in the present decade.
If both Imatra and Helsinki were cities with populations of 100,000, Imatra would have an averaged 5.72 homicides a year, and Helsinki would have just 2.55.
The Jokela school massacre in Tuusula took place in 2007, and was not recorded in the statistics. However, if the shootings of eight people at the school had taken place a year earlier, Tuusula would have been right behind Imatra in the death by homicide.
"I never would have imagined. I have known that Imatra has been on the bad side of violent crime statistics in the province of South Finland for years", says Imatra police chief Aimo Rauma.
He cannot find a reason for the high homicide rate. Usually those who kill are powerfully intoxicated.
Matti Lehti feels that it is not easy to find a single reason for why there are more killings in some communities than in others.
He notes that Lahti has had something of a reputation for violent crime for the past 100 years.
"In some way, the number of homicides is linked with an area's demographic and business structure. I think that the number of homicides in a certain area is connected with the number of people who have been marginalised", Lehti says.
Homicides often take place among the less advantaged. Seventy percent of both killers and victims are of working age, who are not working for some reason or another.
The list of crimes tells almost nothing of how safe or dangerous it is to walk in public places in one city or another. It is rare for a killer to choose a victim at random from among strangers.
A typical Finnish killing is still done with a kitchen knife at the end of a drunken argument in a private home on a weekend.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 21.1.2008 - TODAY |
 Homicide rate higher in provincial towns than in Helsinki |
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