Police An experienced criminal lawyer decided to put his gloves on a pound after frustrated by the problems of a criminal investigation: “People don’t understand how weathered this system is”

About year then an experienced criminal attorney Maija Häyrinen got enough.

Häyrinen has been a lawyer for serious sexual and violent crimes for almost 15 years. He has represented hundreds of clients, both sexual and violent, and their victims.

Now Häyrinen has decided to run his business down and keep the Sabbath year. He is so frustrated with the problems of the criminal process and the rule of law.

“People don’t understand how weathered this system is,” Häyrinen says.

“When an ordinary person becomes a victim of a crime, he is, without exception, amazed and asks, ‘Is this so?’ Everyone always imagines that it is their story that has been forgotten or not progressing. ”

HS addressed the issues of sexual and intimate partner violence examinations in an extensive article on 16 January. The story told the stories of five women about how difficult it is to get justice in Finland.

Although many cases are being investigated effectively and good progress has been made in recent years, there are still many shortcomings in police investigations into sexual and intimate partner violence. Essential evidence is not obtained or investigations stand for years, even so that criminal prosecutions may become obsolete.

Read more: Mira was raped and a DNA sample showed the perpetrator, but it took a year for the police to catch the man – Five women tell HS how hard it is to get justice

The troublemaker is familiar with the problems.

In his view, the level of pre-trial investigation into sexual and intimate partner violence has deteriorated in recent years, as evidenced by both police attitudes and expertise.

The harasser has many clients whose police suspect he has been the victim of a serious sexual crime. Despite this, the police investigation has been standing for a long time.

One girl was suspected of being a victim of sexual abuse of an outrageous child. The victim had filed a criminal complaint in November 2019. Now, two years and three months later, the investigation is still ongoing. According to Häyrinen, the police have answered the questionnaires that “the investigation is progressing, but sometimes it takes time”.

There are several similar examples.

The Supreme Law Enforcement Officer has also drawn attention to similar cases. The Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen considered that in 2020 the police acted illegally in many ways when, for about two years, it did nothing in an investigation in which a 16-year-old girl was suspected of being raped.

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“People don’t understand how weathered this system is.”

Although police investigation would not stand for years, the criminal process will take a long time. Stuff is also piling on the tables of prosecutors and judges.

Häyrinen lists more customer cases.

Suspected crime: aggravated rape. The victim filed a criminal complaint in March 2020. The case will not be heard in court, at least this year.

Suspected crime: two aggravated child sexual abuse, aggravated rape, child sexual abuse. The crime report was made in November 2019. Attempts are being made to find a hearing date for the case in the district court this summer.

Suspected crime: sexual exploitation of a child. The crime report was filed in December 2019. The investigation was completed in April 2020, but at least by last November, no charges had been brought.

Criminal investigation the problems have been talked about for a long time.

Häyrinen believes that not enough is being done about the malpractice of certain serious crimes, because they affect a small part of the population.

“Decision makers don’t have to deal with these things. Maybe these problems are perceived as not affecting us but some other part of society. ”

In Häyrinen’s opinion, therefore, these are choices made by both politicians and the police leadership.

For example, sexual and intimate partner violence is at the top of the police prioritization list. Häyrinen says that based on the experiences of his clients, this is often only true on paper.

“Police leadership decides how it prioritizes its resources. For example, there is a really good group for sexual offenses in Helsinki, but there is not enough capacity to handle these cases, ”says Häyrinen.

“What wonder are the police budgets that are constantly being increased? What do they do when even basic crimes cannot be investigated? ”

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior are currently commissioning an external study on the allocation and use of police funds. The study is due to be completed in early February.

In an article by HS, a criminologist Heini Kainulainen drew attention to the effectiveness of the fight against drug – related crime in relation to many other serious crimes.

Häyrinen agrees. Drug cases don’t stand for years and don’t have to be called by lawyers. That’s how it should be in other serious crime, Häyrinen says.

“No criminal liability and the realization of the victim’s rights can depend on a lawyer calling and torturing. Or whether a police officer happens to be on holiday. ”

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Suspected crime: aggravated rape. The victim filed a criminal complaint in March 2020. The case will not be heard in court, at least this year.

The police suspects must be investigated as a matter of urgency if the suspect is, for example, in pre-trial detention. This is to ensure the legal security of the suspect.

Häyrinen points out that prolonging the criminal process can seriously endanger the victim’s health, and it should also be possible to investigate such cases as a matter of urgency. Another lawyer interviewed by HS who specializes in sexual offenses agrees.

In the case of one Häyrinen client, the police suspected aggravated sexual abuse of a child. It took a year and four months from the criminal report to the prosecution. In Häyrinen’s opinion, however, the case should have been handled much faster. The victim sliced ​​himself and was in such poor condition that both the doctor and the nurse feared that the stretching of the case would significantly exacerbate the risk of suicide.

The investigation was also quite simple, and only one witness was heard.

It took a year from the charges that the district court sentenced the accused man to more than two years in prison for aggravated sexual exploitation of a child. The judgment of the Court of Appeal was handed down again a year later, almost three and a half years after the criminal report.

Vibrant has often wondered with his fellow lawyers whether they would report a crime if they were the victim of a sexual offense.

“I’m not sure if I would,” Häyrinen says.

If the criminal process drags on for years, it can re-traumatize. What happened cannot be processed.

Häyrinen thinks it is a huge problem if people who know the criminal process do not want to expose themselves to it. One of her clients is a 15-year-old girl who is suspected of being raped by police. According to Häyrinen, the girl’s parents, who are aware of the problems of the criminal investigation, had seriously wondered if they would not report the crime. They feared the criminal process would overshadow the girl’s life for many years.

For two months, nothing happened in the investigation. Häyrinen asked the director of investigation why this was the case, but the message was not answered during the week. When the HS sexual offense case came up, police contacted the girl’s parents the very next day.

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“Not everyone’s stuff is researched in the same way, quality or scope. Not everyone in Finland gets justice in the same way. ”

For one Häyrinen has changed his mind about it.

When he started working as a criminal lawyer more than a decade ago, he was convinced that people in Finland get justice on an equal footing.

Now Häyrinen believes that this is not the case. For him, cases where the victim is a foreigner, especially a foreign woman, are clearly investigated less well than others.

Last spring, HS revealed serious problems in police investigations into human trafficking and commuter crime, where the majority of victims are foreigners. Deputy Chancellor of Justice Mikko Puumalainen in its recent decision, it harshly criticized the actions of the police and considered the police to have acted unlawfully on several points.

Read more: HS’s investigation into police investigations into human trafficking led to harsh criticism and criminal investigation by the Deputy Chancellor of Justice: Illegal solutions and serious skills shortages in the police

According to Häyrinen, people who are able to support themselves in general also get better justice. If a criminal case receives a great deal of attention and public interest, it will be investigated effectively and spectacularly.

But the criminal case of an “ordinary person” may be handled how it hurts, Häyrinen states.

“Not everyone’s stuff is researched in the same way, quality or scope. Not everyone in Finland gets justice in the same way. ”