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2. Victims of offences and persons suspected of solved offences

2.1. Victims of certain offences

In 2019, there were 51,900 victims of recorded offences, which is 3.2 per cent more than in in the year before. Of the victims, 27,500 were men and 24,500 women. The number of male victims grew by 2.1 per cent and that of female victims by 4.4 per cent.

Information on victims is obtained reliably only on certain violent and sexual offences. For example, in offences against property, the police do usually not identify the victim of the offence and the injured party. Especially in offences against minors, the guardian of the actual victim is recorded as an injured party.

Close on 55 per cent of victims belong to the age group 15 to 39. Of the victims, 22 per cent were minors, which is good two percentage points more than in the year before. For men, the share of minors has risen slightly more than for women. In 2009, sixteen per cent of male victims were minors, while over the past few years the share has been around 20 per cent. For females, the share of minors has risen from around 18 to 20 per cent.

Of the victims of assault offences 8.1 per cent (2,700) were aged 18 to 20. Male victims were slightly younger than female victims as over 60 per cent of the victims aged under 25 were men while the share drops closer to 50 per cent for older victims. Apart from the oldest age groups, over one-half of assault victims are men. Of the male victims, 44 per cent were aged under 25, while 35 per cent of female victims were aged under 25.

Approximately 80 per cent of attempted homicide victims are men. Close on 90 per cent of the victims of sexual abuse of a child are girls and over 95 per cent of rape victims are female.

Figure 8. Victims of certain offences by age and sex in 2019

In solved offences, where, in addition to the victim, the suspect is also known, the victim was of Finnish background in 92.8 per cent of cases (Table 6). This is 1.2 percentage points more than one year earlier. In 94.7 per cent of sexual offences, the victim was of Finnish background. This is 0.3 percentage points lower than in the year before.

Of the suspects, 88.8 per cent were of Finnish background, which is 0.3 percentage points more than in the previous year. In sexual offences, the share of suspects of Finnish background went down by 4.8 percentage points to 72.8 per cent.

In offences against a victim of Finnish background, the suspect was also of Finnish background in 91.6 per cent of cases. In sexual offences, the share was 74.8 per cent. The share was good four percentage points lower than in 2018.

In 2019, the share of suspects with foreign background of offences against victims of foreign background fell to under one half. The share was now 47.9 per cent, having been 53.2 per cent in the year before.

Table 6. Victims of certain solved offences by origin and person suspected by origin 2019

Victim's origin/offence		Person suspected origin
		Origins total	Person with Finnish background total	Person with foreign background total
Origins total	Total	16,188	14,372	1,816
	Assault offences	10,794	9,626	1,168
	Sexual offences exc	901	656	245
	Other offences	4,493	4,090	403
Person with Finnish background total	Total	15,018	13,763	1,255
	Assault offences	9,948	9,190	758
	Sexual offences exc	853	638	215
	Other offences	4,217	3,935	282
Person with foreign background total	Total	1,170	609	561
	Assault offences	846	436	410
	Sexual offences exc	48	18	30
	Other offences	276	155	121

2.2 Persons suspected of solved offences

About 30 per cent of suspects are suspected of several offences

Of the 275,000 offences against the Criminal Code solved in 2019, a total of 300,400 persons were suspects, which is around one per cent more than in the previous year. The same person can be suspected of more than one offence and one offence can have several suspects. Of the suspects, 240,700 were men, which is 0.3 per cent more than in the year before. The number of female suspects increased by 3.3 per cent. They numbered 59,700. Of those suspect of offences against the Criminal Code, 19.9 per cent were women. The share of women among suspects has varied between 17 and 20 per cent in recent years.

Statistics Finland only publishes data on suspects of solved offences. The preliminary investigation authority records the offence as solved when the preliminary investigation is completed, and the case can be transferred to the prosecutor for consideration of charges. The fact that someone is a suspect does not mean that the prosecutor will charge or convict the person of an offence.

Suspects can also be examined by the gravest offence of the year or the so-called principal offence. Examined this way, there were 124,800 suspects of offences against the Criminal Code. So, one person was suspect of an average of 2.4 offences. On average, men are suspected of 2.5 offences and women of 2.1 offences. For both men and women, offences seem to concentrate on ever fewer suspects as for both, the number of offences per suspect has grown since 2006.

In addition to the quantitative difference, the criminality of men and women differs in that women's shares of assaults, drunken driving and damages to property were small compared to men. However, the share of women suspected of assaults has risen from under 10 per cent in 1980 to some 20 per cent. Typical crimes for women are shoplifting and petty thefts, frauds, embezzlements and forgeries.

The share of minors and young people aged under 21 among suspects is slightly under one fifth.

The majority of suspects, 69.4 per cent, were suspects of only one offence against the Criminal Code in 2019. The corresponding figure was 70.6 per cent in the previous year. In all, 14.4 per cent were suspects of two offences. Of the suspects, 16.2 per cent were suspected of more than two offences.

Figure 9. Persons suspected of offences against the Criminal Code by number of offences in 2019, %

Tables 7 and 8 show the suspects of offences against the Criminal Code by age group relative to the population. Based on the gravest offence a person is only suspected once during the year. Based on the tables, offences concentrate on an ever smaller group of suspects.

Table 7. Suspects of solved offences against the Criminal Code by age and sex, principal offence rule in 2010-2019, share per 1,000 population

		2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	Total	33	33	31	30	28	27	25	23	23	23
	0 - 14	8	9	7	6	5	5	6	6	6	6
	15 - 17	62	64	55	52	49	47	43	44	43	43
	18 - 20	91	93	88	86	80	78	76	71	75	74
	21 - 24	71	72	67	66	62	61	57	54	56	54
Male	Total	52	52	48	46	44	43	40	36	37	35
	0 - 14	11	12	10	9	8	8	8	9	8	9
	15 - 17	93	96	84	80	77	72	65	69	67	67
	18 - 20	139	139	131	129	119	118	115	110	115	114
	21 - 24	109	110	104	101	95	94	87	83	87	82
Female	Total	14	15	14	13	13	12	12	10	10	10
	0 - 14	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
	15 - 17	30	31	25	23	20	20	19	18	17	17
	18 - 20	42	45	44	42	39	37	34	31	34	33
	21 - 24	30	31	29	30	28	27	26	24	24	24

Table 8. Suspects of solved offences against the Criminal Code by age and sex in 2010-2019, share per 1,000 population

		2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	Total	69	69	64	62	59	58	57	54	54	54
	0 - 14	13	14	11	10	9	8	8	9	9	10
	15 - 17	122	126	109	103	98	91	84	82	80	83
	18 - 20	208	214	201	198	185	185	180	199	178	175
	21 - 24	183	175	167	165	152	156	152	148	156	154
Male	Total	115	115	106	102	97	95	92	89	88	88
	0 - 14	18	20	15	14	13	12	12	14	12	14
	15 - 17	194	202	177	167	161	149	134	134	128	134
	18 - 20	332	340	320	314	290	293	279	332	284	272
	21 - 24	290	279	268	261	241	250	239	234	246	237
Female	Total	25	26	23	24	23	23	22	20	21	21
	0 - 14	8	8	6	5	4	4	4	5	5	5
	15 - 17	46	47	39	37	33	31	31	28	29	30
	18 - 20	79	82	77	77	76	72	75	60	65	71
	21 - 24	71	67	62	64	60	58	60	58	61	66

Of all suspects of offences and infractions, six per cent were under the influence of alcohol. In 2006, the corresponding share was 16 per cent. The state of intoxication is not examined in nearly all cases. For example, in connection with automatic traffic control the state of intoxication is not examined.

Of all suspects of offences against the Criminal Code, 13 per cent were under the influence of alcohol and 11 per cent were under the influence of other intoxicants. The role of alcohol as an intoxicant has decreased and that of other intoxicants has increased. In all, 22 per cent of suspects were under the influence of alcohol and four per cent were under the influence of other intoxicants in 2006. Of the suspects of offences against life and health 36 per cent were under the influence of alcohol, while in 2006 the corresponding share was 60 per cent.

2.3 Nationality and origin

Number of foreign suspects increasing

In 2019, there were 34,300 foreign citizens suspected of offences against the Criminal Code. This is nearly 200 (0.5 per cent) more than in 2018. The number of Finnish suspects was 2,600 (one per cent) higher than in the year before. Of the foreign suspects, 55.1 per cent had a permanent place of residence in Finland. The share was 0.8 percentage points higher than in the year before.

In Mainland Finland, the proportion of foreigners among suspects was biggest in the region of South Karelia. The share of foreigners was 21.9 per cent. The next highest shares of foreigners were found in Uusimaa, 19.6 per cent, and Kymenlaakso 16.9 per cent.

Persons with dual nationality, whose one nationality is Finnish are recorded as Finns. The permanent residence of a person is determined based on the person's municipality of residence. Tourists, asylum-seekers and other persons staying temporarily in the country do not have a domicile of Finland. Statistics Finland records suspect data only on solved crimes. A person can appear as a suspect in the statistics several times during the year.

Figure 10. Foreign citizens suspected of offences against the Criminal Code, their share of all persons suspected and share with permanent residence in Finland in 2009 to 2019

The biggest group of foreigners suspected of offences against the Criminal Code were Estonian. They numbered 8,900, which is the same as in 2018. Other countries where over 1,000 of citizens were suspected were Russia (4,600), Iraq (3,200), Sweden (1,800), Romania (1,500) and Somalia (1,000). For example, compared with the year before, the number of Iraqis increased by 3.5 per cent and that of Somali decreased by 5.7 per cent. The number of Swedes went down by 12.3 per cent and that of Romanians by 9.3 per cent.

Of Romanians, only 18.9 per cent were permanent residents of Finland. Under one-half of Russian suspects also lived permanently in Finland. Of them, 32.5 per cent had a permanent place of residence in Finland. Just over one-half of Estonians resided permanently in Finland. Of Somalis, 95 per cent and 70.4 per cent of Iraqis resided permanently in Finland.

In all, 87.6 per cent of foreign suspects were men. Of Finnish suspects, 79.2 per cent were men. Foreigners were also slightly older than Finnish suspects. Of foreign suspects, around 11 per cent were aged under 21 and around 40 per cent were aged under 30. Of Finnish suspects, 19 per cent are aged under 21 and 46 per cent under 30.

Origin

Of the suspects of offences against the Criminal Code, 256,400 (85.4 per cent) were of Finnish background. The share of suspects of Finnish origin has decreased by 4.1 percentage points in ten years. Some 96 per cent of the suspects of Finnish background were born in Finland.

There were 31,500 suspects with foreign background (10.5 per cent). Ten per cent of suspects with foreign background were born in Finland. The share of suspects with foreign background who have been born in Finland has increased by six percentage points in ten years.

The share of suspects with eastern European origin among foreign suspects has decreased in ten years from 26 to 19 per cent. Correspondingly, the share of people with Northern European origin has risen from 19 to 24 per cent. The share of people with Western Asian background has risen from good 11 per cent to slightly under 17 per cent.

Table 9. Persons suspected of offences against criminal code with foreign background by background country 2009-2019

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	23564	25539	27449	27971	27371	28440	29089	29244	28900	31103	31549
Northern Africa	957	1197	1231	1162	965	1039	1052	997	1104	1026	1007
Sub-Saharan Africa	3349	3534	3782	3454	3750	4367	4617	4578	3997	4140	4209
America	477	505	504	504	457	509	519	556	553	486	435
Eastern Asia	302	187	400	328	194	237	212	195	160	187	222
Western Asia	2678	2758	2971	3047	3218	3419	3610	3734	4065	4760	5190
South-eastern Asia and Oceania	985	904	936	1049	1146	1036	961	1128	913	959	925
Eastern Europe	6103	5915	6299	6369	5915	5924	6027	5841	5943	5932	5895
Northern Europe	4423	5925	6396	6768	6524	6478	6450	6561	6600	7731	7621
Southern Europe	1665	1548	1507	1542	1490	1527	1536	1394	1394	1393	1309
Western Europe	2235	2515	2591	2771	2492	2506	2497	2537	2625	2788	2757
Unknown	390	551	832	977	1220	1398	1608	1723	1546	1701	1979

There were 12,400 (4.1 per cent) suspects of unknown origin. The share of those with unknown origin has remained more or less the same, but the absolute number has shrunk.

In 2018, a total of 7.3 per cent of the Finnish population was of foreign origin.

A person whose one or both parents were born in Finland is counted as having Finnish background. A person has foreign background if his or her both parents were born abroad. Origin information is not available for tourists or other persons not belonging to the Finnish population.

2.4 Backgrounds of suspects

Around 26 per cent of those suspected of offences against the Criminal Code belonged to the lowest income decile when viewed by disposable money income. Over one-half of the suspects belong to the three lowest income deciles. The share of those belonging to these three lowest income deciles has increased from 53.1 to 56.8 per cent in ten years.

Female suspects have slightly higher income than male suspects. Of them, 48.1 per cent belonged to the three lowest income deciles in 2019, while the corresponding figure for men was 58.9 per cent.

In relative terms, most suspects belonging to the highest income decile were found among suspects of traffic offences and infractions, employment offences and tax evasion.

Examined by main type of activity, 26 per cent of suspects were unemployed, while the share of unemployed in the entire population was under five per cent. Of the suspects, good 28 per cent were employed while the employed represent close on 48 per cent of the entire population.

More than one-half of suspects have no post-basic level educational qualification. Only good five per cent of suspects had lower or upper level university degrees or doctorate degrees.

Source: Statistics on offences and coercive measures 2019, Offences reported. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kimmo Haapakangas 029 551 3252, rikos@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 14.5.2020