Crime: fewer rapes, more murders

The Finnish police, customs and the coast guard registered a total of 376,800 offences against the criminal code that were reported between January and September 2020. According to the figures issued by Statistics Finland, that is 36,902 cases (9.8%) more than in the same period of 2019.

The number of offences recorded by the police was 371,600, which is 10.3% more than in January to September 2019.

Assaults

The number of assault offences recorded from January to September was 24,400, which is 3.1% fewer than in January to September 2019. The number of assaults that took place in restaurants decreased by 53.7% and the number of assaults that took place in public places by 2.4%.

In turn, the number of assaults in private dwellings increased by 4.6 per cent. When it comes to assaults in private dwellings, the growth in reports is concentrated to the period January to March, not April to June. Nearly 30% more assaults in private dwellings were reported in July than in July 2019.

A total of 1,372 aggravated assaults were recorded, which is 192 cases more than in the same period of the previous year.

Life and property

The recorded number of offences against life (manslaughter and killing) was 76, which is 25 cases more than in 2019. Attempted homicides numbered 308, which is 82 cases more than in the year before.

In all, 1,107 rapes were recorded, which is 6 cases (0.5%) fewer than in January to September 2019. The recorded number of sexual abuses of a child was 1,219, which is 1.1% fewer than in the year before.

A total of 177,300 offences against property were recorded, which is 15,200 cases (8.6%) more than in the previous year.

A total of 24,300 frauds were recorded, which is 9.5% more than in the year before. The number of frauds appears to be growing after a few years of decline.

The number of robberies recorded was 1,600 which is 17.7% up. Of robberies, 338 were aggravated.

A total of 104,500 theft offences (theft, aggravated theft, petty theft) were reported, which is 10,000 cases (9.6%) more than in the previous year. The number of aggravated thefts recorded was 2,100, which is up by 2.1%.

The recorded number of break-ins into houses and free-time residences was 3,700, which is 11% more than in 2019.

Narcotics and other offences

The recorded number of unauthorised uses and thefts of a motor vehicle was 4,900, which is 9.7% more than in the year before.

A total of 15,700 drunken driving cases were reported, which is 10.9% more than in 2019.

The number of narcotics offences recorded was 29,000, which is up by 21.5% on the year before. The number of aggravated narcotics offences went down by 10.1%. A total of 1,009 of them were recorded.

Around two out of three narcotics offences are use offences. The number recorded was 18,300, which is 15.2% more than in 2019.