European Seminar, Helsinki, Finland

.......con’t

The Seminar provided an opportunity for participants to: (1) review methods used for assessing the cost of crime and disorder and to discuss possibilities for of their improvement, and (2) collect data on cost assessments of crime and disorder in European countries with a special emphasis on the distribution of the costs.

Mr Johannes Koskinen, Minister of Justice of Finland, opened the Seminar by reminding participants that “drafting laws is cheap, it is the effects of laws that cost money”. Stressing the importance of making fair and rational policy decisions, the Minister also highlighted the need to develop good and hopefully comparable data.

The presentations which followed focused on: experiences of counting the cost of crime in several countries and municipalities, monetary value of crime and the paying party, and the results of an ongoing survey on the cost of crime in the EU member states. In addition, several presentations on the cost of crime in local areas were made in the plenary, and the workshops.


The Finnish National Council for Crime Prevention will publish the proceedings of the conference in the upcoming months on their website.