Sharp rise in suspected hate crimes

A study by the Police College of Finland indicates that the number of hate crimes has grown in Finland. Last year 859 suspected hate crimes were reported to police, which is a sharp increase over previous years.
      Hate crimes are defined as crimes motivated by prejudice or hostility toward an affinity group represented by the victim. Common hate crimes include assaults and cases of defamation.
     
The growth can partially be explained by a change in statistical classification. Studies on racist crimes that have come to the attention of the police have been made since 1997, but now the classification was expanded to cover affinity groups that are not limited to race.
      However, the change is not the only explanation for the higher figures, says researcher Laura Peutere of the Police College of Finland.
      Suspected crimes motivated by racism grew by more than 30 per cent from 2007. In Helsinki the number doubled from the previous year.
     
Last year police received 23 criminal complaints, where the likely motivation of the act was that the victim was the member of a sexual minority.
      The victim’s religion is believed to have inspired the perpetrators of 53 reported crimes. In about one third of these, the victims were Muslim. There was one report of vandalism against a mosque, for instance.
      The victim’s disability was suspected as a motive in 28 cases. In one complaint, for instance, a wheelchair-bound man reported a taxi driver who refused to take him as a passenger.
     
Experts say that not nearly all hate crimes come to the attention of police.
      There is also a problem in recognising what is a hate crime.
      Yrsa Nyman of the office of the Minority Ombudsman calls for more training for police to recognise hate crimes. She also says that police do not always manage to get sufficient evidence of a crime’s motive during the preliminary investigation.
     
At the Ministry of the Interior, Chief of Staff Ritva Viljanen says that police are now being trained for such issues, and that they are now better able to recognise if hate has been a factor in a crime.
      Viljanen says that the problem is that racism or hate are rarely taken into consideration as an aggravating circumstance in passing a sentence.
      Viljanen says that a study is being conducted on how hate crimes are passed on to prosecutors and the courts.
      She also says that a study would be needed on whether or not hate crimes should be defined as a separate category in the criminal code.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  EU report: Many Somalis in Finland suffer frequent violence and threats (14.12.2009)
  Immigrants say Finnish police not taking complaints of racist crimes seriously (15.5.2009)
  Incident at train station draws attention to racist acts aimed at children (14.5.2009)