Hate crimes on religion go up by 12% in 2016

The number of suspected hate crimes on religion or belief increased by 12 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year, said a police press release.

Last year, the Police recorded 149 such hate crimes. Out of the religious hate crimes, about half the cases, the target was the Islamic faith, according to a study of the Police University College.

The number of other hate crimes, however, reduced significantly in 2016.

Last year, the Police recorded 831 suspected hate crimes based on ethnic or national background. The number was 60 fewer than in the previous year. The number of suspected hate crimes targeting sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression decreased, but only by four cases compared to 2015.

In 2016, there were 42 suspected hate crimes based on disability, while there were 65 in the previous year.

A total of 1,079 reports classified as suspected hate crimes were recorded in Finland. In the previous studies by the Police University College, there were 1,250 such reports in 2015 and 822 in 2014.

The number of hate crimes reported to the Police thus decreased by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, but did not return to the pre-2015 level.

As before, the majority of the hate crime reports in 2016 included features related to ethnic or national background. Assault was the most common type of crime.

The number of suspected hate crimes has been tracked in Finland since 1997, and in its current extent by the Police University College since 2008. Hate crimes are recorded on the basis of national police report data.

“The published study only discusses suspected hate crimes reported to the police, because only some of the hate crimes are reported to the police. It is to be expected that when more resources are used for investigation, the number of suspected hate crimes on the Internet will increase in the future”, said Researcher Jenita Rauta from the Police University College.

Indeed, the Police have stepped up their operations in order to recognize and prevent hate crimes.

The amount of hate speech on the Internet and, in particular, in social media has increased over recent years to such an extent that the Police have no longer had the means to intervene in all cases. In part, this may explain why the number of hate crimes reported to the Police has leveled out from the 2015 spike.

“In early 2017, a national hate speech investigation team was established at the Helsinki Police Department, tasked to intervene in punishable hate speech on the Internet”, said Superintendent Måns Enqvist from the National Police Board.

Additionally, 40 police officers have received trainer training related to hate crime, and they, in turn, will arrange training sessions in their own districts.

“In this way, we aim to comprehensively ensure that the hate motive is taken into consideration at all stages of the pre-trial investigation so that the prosecutor will be able to demand the statutory grounds for increasing the severity of the punishment,” said the superintendent.

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