National Council for Crime Prevention, Finland

The National Council for Crime Prevention (NCCP) is a crime prevention expert and cooperation agency, located in the Ministry of Justice, Finland.  The Council aims to reduce the harm caused by crime and increase security.  Many of the council’s activities focus on the implementation of Finland’s National Crime Prevention Programme, launched in 1999.

In response to high rates of violence such as homicide and interpersonal violence, in comparison to other EU countries, the NCCP began preparing a national programme for the reduction of violence in January 2004.  At this time, a meeting was held by the Council, and it was decided after reviewing the crime picture in Finland, that several priority work groups would be established to consider ways to reduce violence in the country.

These work groups are composed of representatives from relevant fields, such as law, psychology, psychiatry, criminology, and social work, officials of government bodies, and crime prevention practitioners. Below is a short description of the goals of each work group.

Homicide- this group will describe the development of violence with lethal outcome, compare the Finnish situation with that of other European countries and determine the characteristics of Finnish homicides.

Alcohol and Violence- the group will look at the relationships of alcohol consumption, drinking habits and violence and will consider the alcohol control policy, social policy and situational crime prevention to suggest ways to reduce alcohol-related violence.

Violence Against Women- the group will review the current state of knowledge violence against women, including intimate partner violence, other domestic violence, violence at work, and sexual violence. It will also consider lessons and outcomes from a large number of different projects set up to prevent violence against women.

Workplace Violence- According to a series of national surveys on injuries and violence, violence at work has increased during the past few years while many other forms of violence have gone down. This group will work to develop ways to reduce forms of violence in the workplace.

Violence among and against young people and children. This group will look at the rates of violence perpetrated by young people as well as the rates of violence against young people and children by offenders of any age.

Culture and violence- this group will identify forms of culture that aim to promote non-violence rather than violence.

A complete description of activities within each of the work groups can be found on the Council’s website (in Finnish only). Link: http://www.rikoksentorjunta.fi/