Organised Crime & Crime Prevention - what works? - Scandinavian ...

NSfK´s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998
Hannu Takala, Executive Secretary
National Council for Crime Prevention
PB 1200, FIN-00101 Helsinki
e-mail: hannu.takala@om.vn.fi
Crime Prevention in Finland
Jan Andersson used 18 minutes to describe crime prevention in Sweden. I had some 40
seconds to do the same for Finland, if the time is shared in proportion to those resources the
crime prevention councils have in Sweden and Finland. I could do it showing following
transparent which contains the most important information on the young and tiny crime
prevention council we have in Finland.
Figure 1
National Council for Crime Prevention, Finland
Set up on 1989
Permanent committee under the Ministry of Justice
Expertise
Planning
Co-operation
Focused on situational crime prevention
Chairperson, vice chairperson and 11 members from
the Ministry of Justice
the police
The Ministry of Social Affairs
criminological research
municipalities
insurance
trade
appointed by the Government for a 3-year term
3 persons working in the secretariat, extra resources on project base
Current major project: preparing the national program for crime prevention
In Finland the National Council for Crime Prevention was set up nine years ago. Nordic
examples and a recommendation from the Council of Europe had a strong influence on the
decision to set up a special body for crime prevention. In a way, crime prevention was
imported to Finland - without a national need to strengthen fight against crime.
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