European Developments in Corporate Criminal Liability by James Gobert & Ana-Maria Pascal

Author:James Gobert & Ana-Maria Pascal
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781136741517
Publisher: Routledge

10

Investigating Safety Crimes in Finland

Anne Alvesalo-Kuusi

Introduction

This article introduces the results of an empirical research project on the police investigation of harms caused by occupational safety crimes in Finland, a jurisdiction in which such crimes are – somewhat unusually – the responsibility of mainstream policing agencies. It begins with an account of the location – and absence – of these harms in crime control strategies and action plans against economic crime. This is the case even though safety crimes are included in the penal code, and in the concept of economic crime as it is defined by the police. The empirical evidence upon which this paper is based is an analysis of data gathered as part of a survey of police in Finland which focuses on their perceptions about and approaches to occupational safety incidents, the investigation of safety crimes, and the perceived place of such offences within the criminal justice system.1

Safety Crimes in Criminal Justice Policy and the Law

The Finnish Government made a decision of principle to fight economic crime. The decision included an action plan which initially involved a three-year programme of reform in the control of economic crime and the grey economy. The first action plan began in 1998 and extended through 2001. It was followed by successive action plans lasting from 2002 until 2005, and then from 2006 to 2009. The 2010–2011 action plan is currently being implemented.

According to the official definition of the Finnish police, economic crime is ‘a criminalised act or neglect which is committed in the framework of, or using, a corporation or other organisation’. Safety crimes are included on the list of ‘economic crimes’. Despite the broad definition of economic crimes, the types of offences that have primarily been subject to scrutiny – both in the action plans and in practice – have been crimes where the victim has been the tax-authority, ‘markets’ or other enterprises; crimes such as book-keeping offences, tax evasion, crimes committed by debtors, and certain forms of other financial crimes such as insider trading. In terms of these types of offences, the programmes have been relatively successful. Financial crime has effectively been recognised as a legitimate target for mainstream criminal justice agencies and has risen up the law and order agenda both politically and within popular consciousness. Police in particular, but also other agencies of or working alongside the criminal justice system, have begun routinely to seek to control economic crime, while among officers such work has begun to be recognised as ‘real’ police work.2 Of course, these initiatives have not been without their problems, and have been subject to some criticism.3 But the social impact of criminalising economic crime has been hugely significant. In so far as economic offending is now labelled using the language of crime, has secured sustained government commitment to resources, is the subject of statefunded research activity, features in consolidated crime statistics and is subject to renewed enforcement efforts across and beyond the criminal justice system, the Finnish initiative speaks persuasively to the often disputed ability of states and criminal justice systems to address economic crime.

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