“That's it that money goes when a new task force is always established,” says the retired prosecutor Eija Velitski.
The reason for the anger is the Ministry of Justice's decision to establish a working group to consider ways to reduce youth and gang crime. The prime minister is behind it Petteri Orpon (kok) government program entries.
The task of the new working group is to “prepare a program of measures to prevent and combat youth and gang crime in Finland in accordance with the goals of the government program”. It should be ready by the end of the year. The purpose is to implement both hard and soft measures.
It frustrates Velitski that one working group after another is set to “reinvent the wheel”. There is not even time to properly try out the proposals of the previous working group, when the new working group is already starting everything from scratch.
For action there is a need, because especially serious violent crimes by people under the age of 18 have increased and become even more brutal. Increasingly, they involve sharp weapons and the humiliation of the victim on social media.
In particular, repeated and serious crimes are concentrated on a small number of young people. In addition, the police have identified a dozen street gangs, and young people with an immigrant background are prominent in them.
However, the problem in combating juvenile delinquency is not a lack of trying. On the contrary, various authorities, non-governmental organizations and volunteers have dozens of parallel projects that are good in themselves.
Coordination is lacking, says Velitski. No one takes overall responsibility, but everyone works on their own.
“There are good players on the field, but we should play together. The authorities stick to their territories. No one else is included, and no information is given to others. At the end of the day, no one takes responsibility for a young person.”
Another problem is shortness of breath. The projects are often temporary, and they have been established with the support of a separate appropriation. The allocation is usually not enough even to analyze the results obtained, and therefore even good activities are stopped. And then it all starts again.
Juvenile delinquency specialist Saija Sambou is also frustrated with the Ministry of Justice. According to him, the big problem is that there is a lack of an umbrella agency that takes overall responsibility in local work.
Multiprofessional cooperation is hampered by problems related to information exchange between authorities. Project work also irritates and frustrates local work, and in some localities, at first, you had to drag, for example, the police along to the meeting.
Like Velitski, Sambou emphasizes persistence. Results cannot be obtained with projects financed on a temporary basis.
“Hopefully, this government understands that it is necessary to continue consolidating operations. There must be permanent funding, and it would be best if there was a law on the matter.”
Velitsky became known to the general public when he accused, for example, an 8-year-old Vilija Eerikan in the murder case and known as a serial strangler Michael Penttilän case. During his long career, he also saw many young people plunge deeper and deeper into the world of crime.
“I have never blamed a person, I blamed him for the crimes he committed. There are shocking human fates. If the chain doesn't play together, nothing will ever come of it.”
Velitski says that last year he received a contact from a middle-aged man whom he had accused of crimes in the 1990s.
“The man said that I had gone to ask him in the hallway of the courthouse how you were doing. He said it was the first time anyone had asked him that. So the prosecutor had asked this!”
Five years ago, the Ministry of Justice invited Velitski to lead a working group whose task was to prepare an action model for young people with symptoms of crime.
The core idea of the proposal, which was completed in 2019, is that the running of the young person from one place to another will stop, and in a multi-professional team, one employee will take overall responsibility for the young person.
“As soon as the young person opens the door of the house, he gets a support person who walks by his side the whole time until there is ground under his feet”, Velitski summarized at the time proposal of the working group.
The pilot experiment was started in four locations, i.e. Turku, Vantaa, Rovaniemi and Oulu. The model has been a little different in each locality, but the basic principle is the same: the running away of young people who have repeatedly committed serious crimes ends.
One of the young people who made it to the pilot project are Ahmed, now a man in his twenties from Varsinais-Suomi. Due to the sensitive nature of the matter, he does not appear in the story under his own name.
Over the years, Ahmed has been convicted of numerous crimes. There are traffic offenses, use and distribution of hashish, and a crime against another person that resulted in a suspended sentence.
A couple of serious criminal cases are still waiting for a hearing date in the district court.
However, Ahmed sees a change in direction in his life. He says that the rumination has stopped, and the reason for that is clear, according to him: he has received help from the pilot project – and concrete help in particular.
“I got to know Harri and the other directors. When I got that help from there, I became even more interested in the fact that, okay, maybe it would be good for me. I would say that I am doing much better now than I was two years ago. That I have completely gotten over drugs.”
Harry is a social worker Harry Kerola. He runs the Rokki project in Turku, ie investment in the development of rehabilitation for young people with symptoms of crime.
Kerola says that in the Turku model, the young person is contacted at least once a week. The young person can be helped quickly and concretely, because experts from different fields work in the same office. Is a social worker, psychiatric nurse, criminal sanctions worker, special education teacher and social worker.
If the young person has a substance abuse problem, they can go with them to substance abuse services. If there are challenges at school, the special education teacher can go to school with the teacher to think about the situation or help with homework. The young person is helped by hand to take care of practical matters and get his life in order.
Ahmed says the model works. According to him, before it was “quite frankly just hell” and no one asked him how he was doing. Now he has received help, among other things, in renting an apartment.
“Harri has helped with money matters, work matters, school matters. I would still stay in Roki if I could. When I have some difficulties or something, I always call Harri and get help right away.”
In June the Ministry of Justice published a report on the experiences of the pilot projects. Ahmed is not the only one pleased.
The young people's comments show gratitude, especially for being able to create a trusting relationship with the regular employees.
“Ku here can talk more freely about things. And you don't need to make an appointment, you can get there quickly when you want to chat and there are always the same employees.”
“The support I received from you has been my most useful support during my life-long 'institutional career'.”
“Luckily I have you, because I have nothing else.”
Despite the encouraging results, the continuation of the operation is uncertain.
Rokki in Turku was coming to an end already last spring, but it got an extension, and now it seems that the operation will continue. In Rovaniemi, Oulu and Vantaa, the projects were supposed to end during the winter and spring, but now it seems that their activities may continue in one way or another.
Ministry of Justice has therefore established a new working group to think about what should be done about youth and gang crime. It makes Eija Velitski frustrated: “We have a model!”
One of the challenges is legislation. Nowadays, it prevents the exchange of information between different authorities.
The working group led by Velitski proposed an organizing law as a solution, which would define the right to access information and the obligation to disclose information.
The change in the law would ensure the exchange of information even when the young person and his parents do not give permission for it. Nowadays, information can be exchanged without permission only when the prosecutor requests a report on the young person's sanctions. This can be done when the young person is subject to a harsher punishment than a fine. In the opinion round, the majority of the speakers estimated that such a law change is not needed.
What Orpo's government program then plans to curb youth crime?
We want to involve the whole of society in the change – starting with the educational responsibility of homes and families.
Harsh measures include stiffening of punishments. For example, the basis for a harsher punishment is that the crime was committed in a street gang. Sanctions for illegal weapons would be tightened and the proof threshold for removing the proceeds of crime would be lowered.
The board program also mentions the development of anchor operations. It aims to prevent young people from falling into a cycle of crime. It is aimed at young people between the ages of 15 and 17 who have not yet committed serious and repeated crimes.
In addition, the government program mentions the extension of the exit activity led by the Central Criminal Police from organized crime and violent extremism to members of street gangs. The program is aimed at those who want to break away from criminal gangs or extremist thinking.
Although there is a shortage of money, leaving young people who commit crimes to their own luck will only pay, Eija Velitski emphasizes.
According to researches a person who remains dependent on elementary school causes a loss of about 295,000 euros to the public administration over his lifetime.
It is estimated that there are about 7,000 young people who commit crimes, so the cost of their exclusion is about 2.1 billion euros.
So it would be cheaper for society to combat the marginalization of young people, says Velitski. It would also save enormous human suffering.
“As long as the spirit lasts, I will talk about this matter.”
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