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2. Persons suspected of solved offences

2.1 Solved offences

During 2015, the police, customs and border guard solved a total of 236,500 offences. The clearance rate was 57.2 per cent, which was 0.6 percentage points higher than in the previous year. The clearance rate for offences is calculated so that the offences recorded by the police in the statistical reference year and all the offences solved in that same year are compared with each other. For this reason, the clearance rate may be over 100 for some offences.

Among municipalities of over 30,000 inhabitants the clearance rate was the highest in Joensuu (73.2%), Kajaani (70.8%) and Pori (70.0%). The lowest clearance rates were found in Järvenpää (46.7%); Kerava (46.8%) and Hyvinkää (49.6%).

The clearance rate varies by type of offence quite strongly. In all, 37.4 per cent of offences against property and 70.5 per cent of offences against life and health were solved. Due to the manner of disclosure, drunken driving and traffic offences, and offences involving intoxicating substances almost all become solved. In all, 68.1 per cent of frauds (Penal Code, Section 36, Paragraphs 1 to 3) and 77.1 per cent of offences against life were solved. The clearance rate was 70.2 per cent for assault offences.

The clearance rates are the lowest for theft offences (theft, aggravated theft, petty theft), damages to property, means of payment frauds and unauthorised thefts of a motor vehicle. In 2015, fewer than every sixth theft (Penal Code, Section 28, Paragraphs 1 to 2) was solved. In turn, over one-half of petty thefts were solved. Good one-fifth of damages to property and one in ten means of payment frauds were cleared. One-third of unauthorised thefts of a motor vehicle were solved. Good one-half of robberies were solved.

Table 3. Clearance rate of certain types of offences in 1986–2015

Offence	1986 - 1990	1991 - 1995	1996 - 2000	2001 - 2005	2006 - 2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
All offences 1)	65	51	51	56	61	59	60	58	57	57
Theft	25	17	14	16	18	17	16	15	15	14
Aggravated theft	39	29	40	41	38	34	38	38	28	34
Petty theft	78	70	67	58	57	57	56	56	55	55
Robbery	53	43	42	45	49	49	55	53	52	59
Damages to property	29	27	27	26	25	21	23	22	21	23
Attempted manslaughter, murder or killing	96	91	92	94	97	91	97	92	92	90
Assault	79	74	76	80	81	75	78	77	78	71
Aggravated assault	85	84	83	87	88	85	84	87	82	84
Petty assault	95	86	79	75	73	73	75	75	70	66
Rape	63	56	57	63	66	59	72	79	70	72
Sexual exploitation of a child	91	84	88	82	86	62	91	63	80	81

1) Excl. endangerment of traffic safety, hit-and-run, traffic infraction, violation of social welfare legislation on road traffic and motor vehicle infraction.

2.2 Persons suspected of offences

In all, 262,000 persons were suspected of the 236,500 offences solved in 2015. The same person can be a suspect of several different offences. In all, 18.6 per cent of such suspects were women. When calculating according to the most aggravated offence of a person (a person can be a suspect only one time during the year), 95,000 different persons were suspects. Thus, one person was a suspect of 2.5 offences, on average. Those guilty of endangerment of traffic safety or traffic infraction are not taken into account here.

The majority of suspects, 63.0 per cent, were suspects of only one offence in 2015. In all, 16.8 per cent were suspects of two offences. Of the suspects, 20.2 per cent were suspected of more than two offences.

Figure 7. Persons suspected by number of offences in 2015

In addition to the quantitative difference, the criminality of men and women differs in that women's shares of assaults, drunken driving and damages to property were small compared to men. However, the share of women suspected of assaults and drunken driving has grown from under ten per cent in 1980 to slightly under twenty per cent. Typical crimes for women were petty thefts, frauds, embezzlements and forgeries. The most common age for both a woman and man suspect was 20 years. The average age of suspected men was 32.6 years and that of women is 32.7 years.

Thirty per cent of persons suspected of solved offences were under the influence of some intoxicant. Of the suspects, 19.4 per cent were under the influence of alcohol, 8.3 of some other intoxicant and 2.3 per cent of alcohol and some other intoxicant. In offences against property, 14.2 per cent of suspects were under the influence of some intoxicant. In crimes against life and health, 47.0 per cent and in rapes, 38.0 per cent of suspects were under the influence of an intoxicant.

Table 4. Suspects of solved offences by age and sex in 2006–2015, share per 1,000 population

Gender/age group		2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Total	Total	54	58	58	56	56	56	52	51	48	48
	Aged under 15	11	12	15	14	13	14	11	10	9	8
	Aged 15-17	118	118	124	118	120	128	111	105	96	87
	Aged 18-20	183	183	183	166	163	169	158	156	147	142
	Aged over 20	54	59	58	57	57	56	53	52	50	50
Male	Total	93	96	99	94	94	94	87	84	80	79
	Aged under 15	15	18	23	19	18	20	15	14	13	12
	Aged 15-17	190	192	202	187	185	197	173	162	151	136
	Aged 18-20	297	302	300	267	264	273	257	253	234	229
	Aged over 20	96	99	101	98	99	96	91	88	84	84
Female	Total	17	21	19	19	19	20	18	18	17	17
	Aged under 15	6	6	7	7	8	8	6	6	4	4
	Aged 15-17	42	41	43	47	52	55	47	45	39	35
	Aged 18-20	62	58	62	60	58	60	55	55	56	52
	Aged over 20	16	22	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	18

In 2015, the share of young and under-age people - aged 21 or under - among all suspects was 19.3 per cent, having been 20.4 per cent one year earlier. The shares of young people were large for alcohol offences, robberies, damages to property and thefts of a motor vehicle. Of suspects of robberies, 37.0 per cent were young people and 37.4 per cent of suspects of damages to property. In all, 19.7 per cent of those suspected of assaults were young people.

2.3 Backgrounds of suspects

The average income subject to state taxation of suspects aged 15 or over belonging to the registered population (living permanently and temporarily in Finland and with a Finnish personal identity code) was around EUR 18,600, while the corresponding income in total population was about EUR 28,400. Income tax is paid to the state on both earned income and capital income. The corresponding median income was EUR 10,700 and EUR 23,600. Of the suspects, 29.5 per cent had an income of under EUR 5,000, while this was so for 10.2 per cent of the entire population. Among the suspects, 32.7 per cent had an income of at least EUR 20,000, while the share for the entire population was 57.1 per cent. All those whose income subject to state taxation is not known also belong to the group of under EUR 2,499. The figures given in this Section are calculated so that one person is a suspect only one time. The figures calculated here differ from the figures presented elsewhere in this publication where the same person can be a suspect several times during a year. Those guilty of endangerment of traffic safety or traffic infraction were not taken into account in the figures. The data on income subject to state tax of suspects are based on the National Board of Taxes' data in the tax database concerning income subject to state taxation from 2014. In the sections concerning total population, only people permanently resident in Finland were taken into consideration.

Table 5. Persons suspected of offences by sex and income (EURO) in 2015, aged 15 and over

Income/sex			Total	- 2,499	2,500 -4,999	5,000 -9,999	10,000 -19,999	20,000 -39,999	40,000 -79,999	80,000 and over
Income subject to state taxation	Sex total	Persons suspected	92,181	22,405	4,812	16,570	18,099	20,455	8,231	1,609
		%	100.0	24.3	5.2	17.9	19.6	22.1	8.9	1.7
	Men	Persons suspected	72,517	17,742	3,818	12,690	13,393	16,204	7,198	1,472
		%	100.0	24.4	5.2	17.4	18.4	22.3	9.9	2.0
	Women	Persons suspected	19,664	4,663	994	3,880	4,706	4,251	1,033	137
		%	100.0	23.7	5.0	19.7	23.9	21.6	5.2	0.6
Disposable income	Sex total	Persons suspected	92,181	13,423	4,506	12,382	33,913	24,053	3,241	663
		%	100.0	14.5	4.8	13.4	36.7	26.0	3.5	0.7
	Men	Persons suspected	72,517	10,714	3,706	10,277	26,120	18,290	2,800	610
		%	100.0	14.7	5.1	14.1	36.0	25.2	3.8	0.8
	Women	Persons suspected	19,664	2,709	800	2,105	7,793	5,763	441	53
		%	100.0	13.7	4.0	10.7	39.6	29.3	2.2	0.2

When viewed by disposable money income, the income level of those suspected of offences was higher. The median of the suspects' disposable income is 70 per cent of that of total population. With income subject to state taxation, the share is 45 per cent. Of the suspects, 19.3 per cent had an income of under EUR 5,000, while according to income subject to state taxation, this group included 29.5 per cent of the suspects. The respective figures for the whole population are 8.5 and 10.2 per cent. Disposable income of over EUR 20,000 was earned by 30.2 per cent of suspects and 51.4 per cent of total population. Disposable income = earned income + entrepreneurial income + property income + current transfers received - current transfers paid. Disposable income is a better measure than income subject to state taxation for describing the actual income of suspects.

Figure 8. Persons suspected of offences and the entire population by income subject to state taxation and disposable income in 2015, aged 15 years and over

Classified by main type of activity, 36.1 per cent of the suspects (belonging to the registered population aged 15 or over) were employed persons. Of all suspects, 20.2 per cent were unemployed and 14.1 per cent in the inactive population. Compared to the previous year, the share of employed has declined by 1.3 percentage points and the share of unemployed has increased by 2.2 percentage points. Of the whole population, 50.5 per cent were employed, 7.2 per cent unemployed and 4.0 per cent in the inactive population. Also among the entire population, the share of employed has declined by 1.1 percentage points and the share of unemployed has increased by 1.0 percentage points. The information on main type of activity is from 2013 so it may differ from the current situation.

Figure 9. Persons suspected of offences and the entire population by main activity in 2015, aged 15 and over

Of suspects aged 15 or over, 50.0 per cent had completed only basic level education and 39.4 per cent had completed secondary level education. The respective figures for the whole population were 29.6 and 40.6 per cent. Both among suspects and the entire population, the share of persons with only basic level qualifications has declined slightly from the year before.

In Appendix tables 4 to 7, the same person can be a suspect several times. This is a common way to present the number of suspects of offences in the statistics. This produces a better view of criminality as a phenomenon and the backgrounds of the persons guilty of a particular offence can be described better.

2.4 Origin and foreign citizens

The number of persons suspected of the offences solved in 2015 by the police, customs and border guard was 262,000, of whom 31,800 were citizens of foreign countries. Compared to 2014, the number of all suspects decreased by 0.5 per cent, while the number of foreign citizens suspected went down by 3.9 per cent. The share of foreign nationals in all suspects was 12.1 per cent. The share of foreigners among suspects living permanently in Finland was 6.2 per cent. In 2015, Estonians (8,000) and Russians (6,100) made up the biggest group of foreign suspects. Of Estonian suspects, 43.5 per cent and 30.0 per cent of Russians had a permanent place of residence in Finland. Compared with the year before, the number of offences by Estonians increased by 1.7 per cent and those by Russians decreased by 16.9  per cent. Citizens of the former Soviet Union are also included in Russians.

The decrease in the number of foreign suspects is nearly fully explained by the drop in the number of Russian suspects. Compared to 2014, the number of Russians decreased by 1,250 (16.9 per cent). The number of Russians residing temporarily in Finland decreased by 21 per cent from the year before. In absolute numbers, the number of Russians decreased most in the region of South Karelia, where the number of Russian suspects declined by 630 compared with 2014.

Other countries where over 1,000 of its citizens were suspected were Iraq (1,900), Somalia (1,600), Romania (1,500) and Sweden (1,300). Of Romanians, only 8.8 per cent had a permanent place of residence in Finland. The respective percentages for Somalis and Iraqis were 92.6 and 61.0. Of Swedes, 61.8 per cent had a permanent place of residence in Finland. In 2014, there were 1,400 Iraqi suspects and 84.0 per cent of them were permanently living in Finland. One person can be guilty of many different offences during a year.

Figure 10. Foreign citizens suspected of offences by place of residence in Finland in 2009–2015

Among the offences solved in 2015, 47.9 per cent of the suspected foreign citizens were living permanently in Finland. The share was 1.5 percentage points higher than in 2014. Foreign suspects living in Finland were slightly younger than Finnish suspects were. Their average age was 31 years, while that of Finnish suspects was 32 years. Typical offences by foreigners living in Finland were theft, assault and narcotics offences, as well as driving a motor vehicle without a licence.

In the statistics, the same person can be a suspect several times. Data on the nationality of suspects and on whether they are permanently resident in Finland are based on the nationality data derived from the police and those selected by means of the personal identity code from the population data. The group "no permanent place of residence in Finland" is in that sense problematic, because it may include persons staying longer periods in Finland without applying for a permanent place of residence here. The group may also include persons suspected of a narcotics offence, for example, who have come to Finland only for the purpose of committing a crime. The number of foreign nationals differs somewhat from the figures reported by the police because the police also reports the nationality of the suspect in cases where the investigation is still ongoing. Only solved offences are included in Statistics Finland's figures.

Table 6. Suspects of solved offences living in Finland by age and nationality in 2015

Age group	Suspects living permanently in Finland		Share per 1,000 population in the age group
	Finnish residents	Foreign citizens	Finnish residents	Foreign citizens
-14	6,685	473	7.7	14.3
15-17	14,469	742	83.3	142.5
18-20	25,351	1,322	134.4	215.7
21-24	32,070	1,868	122.4	143.5
25-29	33,350	2,918	107.5	99.2
30-34	30,580	2,801	94.6	87.1
35-39	23,380	1,894	73.4	72.7
40-49	32,990	2,169	51.8	58.9
50-59	19,282	801	26.6	36.3
60-69	8,000	189	10.8	19.3
70-	2,331	34	3.3	5.7
Total	228,488	15,211	43.5	69.2

Origin of suspects

Of the 96,950 persons suspected of offences, 84,900 (87.6 per cent) were of Finnish background. There were 11,900 suspects with foreign background (12.3 per cent). The figures were calculated so that a person is a suspect only one time during the year, which means that this is not the "gross number" of suspects. In the whole population, 94.1 per cent are of Finnish background and 5.9 per cent of foreign background. Of suspects with Finnish background, 1,850 (2.2 per cent) had been born abroad. Of suspects with foreign background, 91.7 per cent had been born abroad. In the review, included are persons belonging to the registered population, that is, people with a Finnish personal identity code. Data on origin are from 2014, so the data on origin of good one hundred persons were unknown even though they had a Finnish personal identity code. Typically, these persons have moved to Finland in 2015.

Suspects born in Finland with Finnish background numbered 16.3 per 1,000 population with the same origin. In turn, the figure for foreign-born suspects with Finnish background was 38.0. Good one-half of foreign-born persons with Finnish background were born in Sweden. The share of Finnish-born suspects with foreign background per 1,000 population was 20.1 and that of foreign-born persons with foreign background was 40.0.

Table 7. Persons suspect of offences by origin and share per 1,000 population 2014–2015

Origin	Suspected		Share per 1,000 population
	2014	2015	2014	2015
Origin total	99,473	96,951	18.2	17.7
Person with Finnish background total	87,446	84,906	17.0	16.5
–Person with Finnish background born in Finland	85,538	83,056	16.8	16.3
–Person with Finnish background born abroad	1,908	1,850	39.2	38.0
Person with foreign background total	12,025	11,931	37.3	37.0
–Person with foreign background born in Finland	790	991	16.0	20.1
–Person with foreign background born abroad	11,235	10,940	41.1	40.0
Origin unknown	2	114	.	.

A person whose one or both parents were born in Finland is counted as having Finnish background. A person has foreign background if his or her both parents were born abroad. There are more of younger age groups and men among persons with foreign background compared with those with Finnish background. In all, 64.7 per cent of those with foreign background and 46.1 per cent of those with Finnish background are aged under 40.

More details about the origin of suspects by age group and sex is available in the appendix table. The figures are calculated so that one person is a suspect only one time. The figures calculated here differ from the figures presented elsewhere in this publication where the same person can be a suspect several times during a year.

If the number of suspects is calculated so that the same person can be a suspect of several crimes, the number of suspects with Finnish background was 223,500 (85.3 per cent of suspects). Of them, 216,000 were born in Finland and 7,550 abroad. Suspects with foreign background numbered 24,600 (9.4 per cent of suspects). Of persons with foreign background, 2,300 were born in Finland and 22,200 abroad. Among suspects, 0.1 per cent were of unknown origin and 13,700 (5.2 per cent) did not have population information. Population information is missing for tourists and those staying temporarily in the country, for example. Compared with 2014, the number of people with Finnish background decreased by 0.2 per cent and those with foreign background grew by 0.5 per cent. The number of persons in the group "no population information" decreased by 8.3 per cent.

In 2015, a person was suspect of an average of 2.7 solved offences. Persons with Finnish background born in Finland were suspects of 2.6 offences and person with Finnish background born abroad of 4.1 offences. Of persons with foreign background, those born in Finland were suspects of 2.4 offences and those born abroad of 2.0 offences.

Source: Statistics on offences and coercive measures 2015, Offences reported. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Kimmo Haapakangas 029 551 3252, rikos@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

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Updated 22.3.2016