Sexual violence in Finland

[3] In Finland, sexual violence and taking advantage of a person is always a crime, even if the assaulter was the victim's spouse, relative or their friend.

[4] Estimating the prevalence of sexual violence in Finland is difficult, because a considerable number of assaults go unreported to the police.

[6] The Nordic countries are often praised for their achievements on gender equality,[2] but according to a 2012 study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 47 percent of women in Finland have experienced physical or sexual violence from anyone at some point since the age of 15.

[7] Out of the 28 European Union countries that were studied in the survey, only Danish women were found to have experienced more.

[7] According to a 1998 study by Markku Heiskanen and Minna Piispa one woman in five had at least experienced physical violence once by their present partner.

Over one out of four women who had lived in a violent couple relationship had sought for help at a shelter, the police, a lawyer's or a legal aid office or other institutions.

This study was carried out by taking a systematic sample of 7100 Finnish and Swedish-speaking women aged 18- to 74-year-olds from the Central Population Register.

[15] The Central Statistical Office also states that prior to 1999, police did not report about a third of all rape cases to the prosecutor.

Under the reform, the definition of rape has been revised to emphasize the necessity of voluntary participation in sexual intercourse.

Furthermore, the reform enhances protection for children's integrity and imposes stricter penalties for offences against them.

With this revision, sexual offenses were divided into three levels of graveness based on how severe the act is.

Anyone who has sexual intercourse with a child younger than 16 years should also be convicted, if the crime is over all not aggravated by the reasoning stated in 7 §'s first paragraph.

The legal terms used in these statutes are defined as: The majority of cases of sexual violence is against women.

[4] Some groups within society have a greater possibility of becoming a victim of sexual violence, and sexual violence often has different kinds of impact of the lives of the victims from different backgrounds (age and social status also have an effect).

[15] However, according to a cross-cultural comparison between three regions in Finland, Denmark, Russia, Estonia and the US in 1988 "Scandinavian workers reported fewer women-unfriendly experiences than the women in the other countries did.

[4] A study conducted by Markku Heiskanen and Elina Ruuskanen states that the most common form of sexual harassment experienced by men was indecent passes, touching or attempts to be kissed against one's will and that 14 percent of the men had such experiences after their 15th birthday, and almost 5 per cent in the last 12 months.

[23] Different documents (for example the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action)[24] have stated that women of ethnic and cultural minorities are more likely to become victims of sexual violence.

The aforementioned characteristics are also likely to decrease the probability of getting and searching for help if a person does become a victim of a crime of sexual offense.

[15] There has been no sufficient research done on sexual and gender minorities, but a study done in the beginning of 1980 (by Grönfors et al.) about experiences of violence by gay and bisexual persons states that every sixth gay or bisexual male had experienced violence because of their sexual orientation.

[26] Most cases of any kind crimes related with violence are overwhelmingly related to alcohol with 60 percent of violent crimes being committed while under the influence of alcohol[26] and with about 86 percent of incest abuse cases occurring when the abuser was intoxicated.

[15] The Ministerial Working Group on Internal Security adopted the action plan in June 2010 to reduce the violence on women, and the goal of this plan is to proactively reduce violence by influencing attitudes and the ways people behave, improve the position of victims of sexual violence and the crisis assistance and support provided to them since it is recognized that these resources are in need of significant improvements.

The last of the main principles is to bring the perpetrators to justice for their acts by improving the process of investigation more effective.