Incitements to hatred triple in 2019

The number of suspected cases of incitement to hatred tripled last year, said the Police University College in an annual report on hate crimes released on Wednesday. According to a press release, the police received a total of 105 complaints last year, compared to 34 in 2018.

Last year, the police, however, learned of slightly fewer suspected hate crimes than in 2018.

According to the report, a total of 899 criminal complaints were filed last year about acts that were classified as suspected hate crimes. The number declined, approaching the longer-term level that preceded the surge in growth in such crimes taking place in 2015.

As was the case in the previous years, most of the complaints involved hate crimes targeting people with non-Finnish ethnic and national backgrounds. The police recorded a total of 650 such crimes, which is slightly more than that in the previous year. In such cases the most common type of crime was assault.

In nine per cent of criminal complaints related to ethnic or national origin, the plaintiff was a person of Roma background. The most common type of crime involved in these complaints was discrimination.

In recent years, online humiliation, threats, and defamation have increased and became more visible phenomena.

Although assault remains the most common type of hate crimes to have come to the attention of the police, statistics indicate growth in cases of verbal defamation, threats, and harassment compared with that in 2018. Most commonly, these complaints apply to defamation and illegal threats.

The greatest change in suspected hate crimes involved complaints against crimes targeting the victims’ religions or believes. The number of such complaints declined by 14 per cent from that in 2018. In slightly less than half of the cases, Islam or Muslim individuals were targeted.

The total number of hate crimes targeting the victims’ assumed or real sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions declined slightly from that in the previous year. However, of these there was an increase in the number of suspected crimes targeting gender identity or gender expression reported to the police than that in 2018. The greatest number of complaints were against defamation.