Policy|Live broadcast in progress
In the intermediate question, the explanation of youth and street crime is immigration and integration policy.
Government takes the situation seriously and works determinedly to reduce youth crime, says the Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen (green). On Monday, Mikkonen answered the opposition’s interim question about combating youth and street crime.
In his answer, Mikkonen emphasized the cooperation between the school system, the police, social and health services and youth services. According to him, families must also be supported.
“If the parents are not well, the young people are not well either,” Mikkonen said.
After the government’s answer, the parliament will discuss the topic. HS shows the parliamentary plenary session that started at 10 a.m. live.
In the interim question the opposition parties consider the immigration and integration policy to be the explanation for youth and street crime.
“The increase in the share of young people with immigrant backgrounds is worrying and indicates that there is room for improvement in assimilation and integration,” Mikkonen stated.
Mikkonen stated that, according to the police’s estimate, there are about ten street gangs in Finland, which according to various estimates consist of 100–200 people. According to the police’s assessment, the vast majority of them have a foreign background.
According to Mikkonen, their crime is largely explained by the same background factors as crime in general.
“When talking about gang crime, we often look to Sweden. Also in Sweden, preventive work is considered most important in order to prevent new young people from ending up on the path of crime.”
According to Mikkonen, we can also learn from Sweden that the segregation of residential areas must be prevented and that illegal weapons must be tackled. Regarding illegal weapons, the development of legislation is evaluated in the ministries, Mikkonen said.
Opposition party chairman of the Basic Finns Riikka Purraa the government’s response was not satisfactory.
“It does not answer the question, does not understand the seriousness of the situation, does not acknowledge the root causes and does not dare to admit the looming spiritual and financial bankruptcy of the immigration policy pursued in Finland,” said Purra.
In his opinion, the government has agreed to talk about the subject only when “the headlines in the Finnish press give no other choice, especially during the elections”.
In the opinion of basic Finns, immigration to Finland should be restricted and criminal policy should be changed, for example, the age limit for criminal responsibility should be lowered.
At the end of his speech, Purra said that it was difficult to give a speech in the hall, because there was so much shouting.
Also in the opinion of the coalition, the street gang phenomenon is linked to failures in immigration and integration policy.
“The red thread of Finland’s integration policy must be language learning, education, participation and work, which are the most important keys to integration into Finnish society,” said the MP Marko Kilpi (kok) in group discussion.
According to him, it is most effective to intervene in youth and street crime through prevention. The party also demands an increase in the number of police officers and, for example, stiffening the punishments related to gang crime.
In the opinion of the Christian Democrats, the issue should be tackled with a comprehensive reform of the Child Protection Act.
“The selection of means for child protection must be urgently developed so that criminal and violent behavior can be effectively tackled”, said the chairman of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democrats Päivi Räsänen.
The Left Alliance Veronika Honkasalo considered the interlocutory question of the opposition harmful. For him, a clear distinction must be made between street gangs and the activities of young people.
“It confuses different phenomena and age groups and presents solutions that have nothing to do with the root causes of youth crime,” Honkasalo said about the intermediate question.
According to Honkasalo, more safe adults are needed in young people’s daily lives. He emphasized that preventive and corrective work is done all the time. He thinks it is contemptuous of professionals working with young people to pretend that nothing has been done.
Interpellation is shared by basic Finns, the coalition, the Christian Democrats and Liike Nyti. The parties demand that the government take action to combat street gangs and secure the authorities’ resources. In addition, they highlighted the tightening of criminal policy.
The intermediate question is the opposition’s strongest weapon, because it forces the parliament to vote on the confidence of the government. Especially during the elections, the opposition can also use the intermediate question to bring up themes in the discussion.
Parliament will vote on the government’s confidence on Tuesday.
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