Number of sex offences goes up by 16% in H1

Although the trend of the overall crime rates decreased, the number of reports concerning sex offences increased from January to June this year compared to the stipulated period of previous year, according to the Statistics of Police released on Friday.

According to the research, the total number of sex offences has not actually increased: rather, a change has occurred in reporting activity. The total number of reports is also increasing the appearance of long-term serial crimes, as a result of which many reports are recorded during a short period.

Of the sex offences reported, the suspect is known in approximately 67 per cent of the cases. Of these suspects, about 72 percent are native Finnish and 28 per cent are foreign citizens.

There is reason to note that only the total number of reported crimes are found in these figures; nor do these figures thereby relate whether or not the number of perpetrators of crimes has increased. In other words, the same perpetrator may be suspected in several cases.