Image: Timo Leponiemi / Yle

Law enforcement officials in Finland are faced with about half a million criminal cases every year. About half of violations are property crimes and one-quarter are traffic infractions.

According to crime statistics, the number of thefts has declined over the past few years, while fraud crimes have increased. Only a fraction of property crimes are ever reported to police.

Depending on the infractions, law enforcement agencies including the police, border guard and customs successfully investigate and prosecute about 50 to 60 percent of all crimes they come across, according to Statistics Finland.

Almost always police discover, investigate and solve serious criminal acts like murder or manslaughter, but other more common crimes involving violence, property or vehicular-related offences may often fall short of police purview.

Many crimes not reported

Looking at crime statistics, it is clear that men commit the majority of crimes that get reported and possibly prosecuted, according to criminologist Maria Normann.

"It is important to remember that not all crimes carried out ever come to the attention of the police; the hidden figures are large," she said.

Normann said that the victims of crimes that go unreported include children, people who can't speak the local languages, like tourists, or those who have illnesses or disabilities.

"[In other words] people who simply do not report crimes committed against them, for one reason or another," she said.

Victims are increasingly less likely to report crimes the better they know the perpetrators of those crimes.

Normann said it's easier for people to report crimes committed by strangers. Another factor which negatively affects the likelihood of reporting crimes is a lack of trust in law enforcement; for example people thinking that police won't deal with them courteously or believe what they're saying.

The majority of people serving sentences in Finnish prisons have low levels of education, and many have not completed primary school. Most imprisoned convicts have substance abuse issues and the majority of the offenders are under the age of 50. The overwhelming majority are men.

"The single-largest group and common denominator is gender. Men are grossly overrepresented [compared] to the population [as a whole]," she said.

But, she said, that statistical gender gap holds true when only examining crimes which have come to the attention of authorities. Another criminologist, Kauko Aromaa, agrees.

He said that there are big variables, but generally, men break the law and women are often victims or do not commit crimes themselves.

"But there are major exceptions," Aromaa said, adding that it depends on the statistical sources which are being examined. Surveys of youths and young adults suggest the statistical differences of crimes committed by males and females are much narrower than many think.

"This, in turn means that there is a clearly bigger risk for boys to be caught for illegal acts. That can be seen in the statistics," Aromaa said.

Girls more concerned about crime

Overall, women continue to commit less crime than their male counterparts but they do commit more crimes than people think, he said.

"Women are socialised in a different way than men. For example, when surveys ask girls why they do not commit crimes they say that they cannot 'afford to.' It's dangerous to their reputations and futures," Aromaa said.

Boys, on the other hand, rarely have a problem with such concerns. But, Aromaa said, this is changing.

Aromaa would like to see more context in crime statistics - why did the person do it, what was the perpetrator's situation in life and what were the circumstances?

"We are all capable of committing any crime at all, we have that potential," he said, adding that a person's possibilities, life situation, motivations and self control are ultimately what controls behaviour and determines resulting outcomes.

Aromaa said that looking at police and court statistics men dominate all categories of crimes. But that does not necessarily mean men are more criminal. Rather, men are convicted for a larger number of crimes as a result of various factors, he said.

Aromaa acknowledged there are typically gender-specific crimes, like rape, but said that doesn't rule out women from that category, saying that women also commit sex-related crimes but at a much smaller scale and not in the same way.