Offences recorded by the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) by Year, ICCS offence category, Case classification and Information

Documentation of statistics . missing The Road Traffic Act was amended on 1 June 2020, and as a result, an administrative sanction is imposed for certain traffic infractions instead of a fine. For this reason, the number of traffic infractions in the statistics on offences has declined considerably. This also impairs the comparability of offences and infractions total against older years. The legislation on sexual offences was amended at the beginning of 2023.

ICCS offence category

The ICCS classification of offences is the classification of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This classification is based on descriptions of criminal acts rather than on legal acts. The aim has been to form a classification suitable for international comparisons. The sections and definitions of the ICCS classification differ somewhat from the national classification based on legal acts used in Finland.

Case classification

A punishable act committed in connection with the activity of an enterprise or other corporation or by taking advantage of them aimed at unauthorised, direct or indirect financial gain is classified as an economic offence. An economic offence also refers to some other planned, punishable act similar to business activity aiming at considerable financial gain.

Case classification

A report of an offence is classified as a racism case when a representative of a minority group has become a victim of an offence, either mainly or at least partly because his or her race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin differs from that of the perpetrator of the offence. Racist characteristics or motives may emerge from the victim's or some other plaintiff's account or be deduced by the police.

Case classification

A report of an offence is classified as domestic violence when it concerns violence inside a family against a family member. It must be understood very widely as regards both the parties involved and violence. Irrespective of the scene of the offence, physical violence or threat of violence, when the perpetrator and victim have an emotionally close relationship, is regarded as domestic violence.

Case classification

A cyber crime is a punishable act, the target, instrument or scene of which is an information system with the associated equipment, and the completion of which or processing of which through criminal proceedings necessarily requires IT skills.

Case classification

In addition to the offences in Chapter 50 of the Criminal Code, a narcotics case also refers to
1) prescription forgeries (fraud, forgery) for obtaining medical products classified as narcotics
2) stealing medical products classified as narcotics from a pharmacy (theft)
3) driving a vehicle under the influence of narcotics (driving while intoxicated)
4) criminal concealment detected in connection with an investigation of a narcotics offence
5) committing a property offence to finance narcotics use.
It can therefore be a criminal act of any kind when it is connected to narcotics.

Case classification

An act can be considered part of organised crime if it fulfils each of the following criteria (minimum criteria):
1) it involves cooperation between more than two persons,
2) it involves suspicion of committing a serious offence,
3) it exhibits long-term activity, and
4) it aims to produce substantial financial gain or power.

Case classification

If no other main category of the case classification can be applied to the case, financial criminal sanctions are recorded according to the (primary) offence type.

Case classification

Cases in which a person or authority or corporation has been the target of a menace, either directly or indirectly are classified as menaces. A classified case may contain any offence or event heading regardless of the seriousness of the offence. Additional record on the target of menace is required.

Case classification

A case connected with a project to combat serious crime in national or regional targeting operations is classified as a project case. The classification is important for monitoring of targeting operations and supervision of legality. The classification can, however, be made for some other case that is connected to some named intelligence, observation or investigation project. Either the project number or the name of the project must be recorded in an additional entry.

Case classification

The offence does not aim at immediate material or personal gain, but it is used as a tool in expressing social opinions or pursuing a political goal. In connection with the activism crime case classification, exact descriptions of the event should be carefully recorded in the report section to enable reliable monitoring and analysis.

Case classification

The impact of the act extends to two or more EU Member States. Europol's competence covers almost entirely the different areas of crime. The data are stored in the national Europol information system and in the Europol information system in the Hague. Before the data are permanently stored, the Criminal information Service of the National Bureau of Investigation verifies the data.

Case classification

A case is classified as a hate crime case if
1) the victim, other plaintiff or the police regards the motive for the act to be partly or completely prejudice or hate towards a specific population group
2) the act has been committed because of motives based on race, colour of skin, origin, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or other corresponding motive (grounds for increasing severity in the Penal Code, Chapter 6, Section 5, Sub-paragraph 4)

Case classification

Corruption is misuse of power to seek gain.
Corruption is suspected when persons performing public or private tasks neglect or violate their duties (e.g. favour in return) for financial or other gain offered and/or received directly or indirectly (e.g. knowledge, status) for their actions taken or not taken. The gain does not seem to have a reasonable, legitimate reason.

Information

Offences known to the authorities (number)

A matter recorded in the police information system as an offence. The offence may have become known to the police, customs or border guard either as a report or in connection with another investigation. The offence is recorded in the statistics for the year in which it becomes known to the authorities. An offence refers to an act for which a punishment is decreed in legislation. The task of the police, customs and border guard is to investigate the offence, conduct a pre-trial investigation and transfer the solved offence to the prosecutor for consideration. In more lenient cases, the offence may be left unreported to the prosecutor on the grounds laid down in law. The statistical unit used is an offence. If several persons have taken part in the same offence together, the number of offences recorded is one. If several similar offences are committed at the same time, several of these offences can be recorded. The offence is recorded based on the municipality where the offence occurred. The offence may also have taken place abroad and a report of it is recorded if the police, customs or border guard have jurisdiction in the matter and the offence has concerned (as a suspect or victim) a Finnish citizen, a person permanently resident in Finland or a Finnish legal person.