Street gangs | Finland would have unused means to prevent the rise of street gangs, says the extremely worried children’s commissioner

Under-age In the news of the last few weeks, the situation of young people in the capital region has resembled more a B-class gangster movie than ordinary young people’s life.

In Espoo, the police are in trouble 14-year-old drug dealers and with increasing violence. In the wider capital region, however, there has been an increase in robberies committed by minors, and subjugation violence has also become more common. Everything is captured on video and shared on social media for friends to see.

Read more: Children run an organized drug trade in Espoo: “Pockets full of money”

The development has not gone unnoticed by the Commissioner for Children Elina Pekkarinen in the study.

“Yes, I am extremely sad, worried and also disappointed,” says Pekkarinen.

There is no news about the current situation for Pekkarine. Before his current position, he has worked, among other things, as a social worker and defended his PhD in political science on juvenile delinquency.

However, in the last couple of years, the situation of young people has turned in a worrying direction. Violence among minors has started to increase in crimes reported to the police.

Read more: Violence among teenagers is increasing, and often its purpose is to humiliate: The victim is forced to lick shoes, for example, and at the same time the situation is described on social media

At the same time, the commission of crimes has been concentrated on a smaller and smaller group, and brutality has been seen in the acts. Street gangs that have raised their heads in the capital region are also related to the same phenomenon, where young adults in a spiral of crime can act as role models for their younger peers.

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“We have the best-off children and young people in the world, who have all the conditions for a good life. And then we gave a small marginal group the chance to succeed in life.”

Pekkarinen says directly that you cannot talk about the current cycle of violence without also talking about immigration. What is problematic for him, however, is how the conversation ends up talking about closing the borders time and time again.

“Those people are already here, and we should find the know-how to guide multicultural families in raising children as well.”

Things go wrong when the parents of immigrant families are excluded from working life and studies. According to Pekkarinen, poverty in families with an immigrant background is more common in Finland than in other OECD countries. And this has implications for children and young people in families.

The police have also spoken about the influence of young people’s backgrounds. Crime commissioner responsible for investigating crimes committed by young people in the Helsinki police Marko Forss has considered socio-economic status as one possible motive for committing robberies.

In Pekkarinen’s opinion, the problems of young people should be solved from the grassroots level by offering better support to families, ensuring competent and sufficient staff for schools and early childhood education, and improving people’s integration into society.

“We have the best children and young people in the world, who have all the conditions for a good life. And then we destroyed the chances of a small marginal group to succeed in life. It is not only the children’s right, but also the interest of society as a whole, that we do not allow such extremely marginalized groups to be born into society.”

To the family and in addition to the background factors related to the growth environment, Pekkarinen wants to highlight one more factor that explains the increase in violence. It’s youth culture.

The youth’s own culture and ways of spending time have been criticized in society all over the world. However, according to Pekkarinen, we cannot ignore the fact that the most important reference group for young people are their own peers and friend circles. Currently, the image of the desired lifestyle is transmitted through social media.

“The model that we get there is so far from the everyday life of many young people that it is completely impossible to reach.”

Expensive clothes, fancy cars, weapons and luxury brands. Little by little, the lifestyle visible on social media becomes something that others want to aspire to as well.

“A culture that idealizes crime and a certain kind of ‘gangstascene’ is disgusting,” says Pekkarinen.

According to him, we talk too little about how attractive the criminal world can be to young people. It can become a way to resolve conflicts and gain social status in one’s group.

“The truth is that crimes and violence can be really rewarding and because of that it can be very difficult to break away from them. Life without that status can be really boring and lonely.”

Exclusively youth culture is not criticized. According to Pekkarinen, adults also have reason to look in the mirror. He points out what he considers problematic are TV series and other entertainment that idealize real-life crimes and crime. News about crimes also has an impact on young people’s thinking.

“I would dare to say that there is a self-fulfilling prediction and cycle going on here.”

According to Pekkarinen, for example, as the news about youth violence increases, violence becomes more familiar and acceptable to young people themselves. A cycle is created, and it can lead to an increase in fear among young people.

The police have already presented their assessment that more and more young people are carrying a bladed weapon. A longer hand is also kept with you for your own safety. In Pekkarinen’s opinion, it is only a matter of time, because firearms will enter the picture.

What then advice? In recent weeks, on the political side, for example, lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 has been proposed as a solution. According to the proposal made by Basic Finns, “youth must be stopped, even if by force”.

Pekkarinen nips the idea in the bud.

“It doesn’t make any sense. These children’s brains are not developing any faster, no matter how objectionable we find their actions. The deterrent effect of punishments is really small, it doesn’t work for adults either,” Pekkarinen gasps.

However, the important thing is that there will be a consequence. Pekkarinen talks about the harsh measures of social services, which can mean, for example, placing a child outside the home.

For those over 15 years of age, instead, much more youth punishment should be used than is currently the case, which can be sentenced instead of a fine or a suspended prison sentence.

“It’s not a punishment that a year from now you get a suspended prison sentence for a crime or a fine that you can’t pay yourself,” Pekkarinen emphasizes.

Juvenile punishment has the most impact on a young person’s life out of the available punishment options, as it includes supervision, familiarization with work or studies, and cooperation with social services, family and the Criminal Sanctions Institute.

In the best in this case, the young person’s cycle of crime could be broken even before they are on the bench.

The police have gained good experience from their preventive activities and, for example, Ankkuri teams, whose work has been able to prevent the decline of young people with symptoms of crime deeper into the criminal world.

But the problem is that there seems to be no help for young people who are already in the criminal cycle. According to Pekkarinen, the medicine for this problem has already been invented, but its use is limited.

In 2019, the research project led by Pekkarinen developed an operating model that can specifically intervene in the activities of young people who commit serious crimes. Several young people and families were involved in the project, including young people who had committed a murder.

Results were also obtained with intensive and strongly participatory work. The problem with the model is its expensive price. Maybe that’s why only three municipalities in Finland have adopted it. Elsewhere, young people in the cycle of crime are progressing towards the world of adult criminals.