The concepts described on these pages are words and expressions used in statistics with a specific, limited meaning. In everyday speech the word may have a different meaning. In connection with each definition you can find information about which sets of statistics use the concept.

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Prison term

A sentence of imprisonment is passed either for a fixed period or for life. A sentence of fixed-term imprisonment is imposed for at least fourteen days and at most twelve years or, when imposing a joint sentence pursuant to Chapter 7, for fifteen years. A court of justice will impose a punishment within the sentence scale set by the legislator for each offence. When imposing a sentence of imprisonment, years, months and days are used as the units of time. Sentences of less than three months are imposed in days. A year includes 365 days and a month 30 days. (Criminal Code, Chapter 2c). In the tables, average prison terms are given in months, except for community service which is also given in hours.



Statistics using the definition

Validity of the definition

  • Valid

Source organisation

  • Tilastokeskus

Jaa