A child or a young person suspected of a crime

Crimes committed by you under the age of 15 are not solved in court or punished in the same way as for adults or persons over the age of 15. This is related to the fact that it has been decided in Finland that the so-called criminal liability will only start when you reach the age of 15. However, the police will also investigate such incidents, and they may lead to child welfare measures and liability for damages.

Read more about this on the police website

After a police investigation has been conducted, the matter will be transferred to the prosecutor for consideration. If the prosecutor decides to prosecute the case and requests for a punishment, he or she prepares the indictment and submits it to the court. The court receives the indictment and in this way the matter becomes pending at the court.

The court shall ensure that information on the charge (summons) and the time of the trial (subpoena) is provided in good time. It is important that you have time to reflect beforehand on your position on the claims and even if you consult a lawyer before the matter will be considered by the court.

The prosecutor is under an obligation to prove the facts described in the indictment. You are under no obligation to prove your innocence or to contribute to the inquiry. However, for the sake of a fair investigation, it is advisable that you tell your own description of the events.

The police may arrest a person suspected of an offence. The police must refer the matter to a court of law and give reasons why it is important that a person should be deprived of his or her liberty even though the matter is still under investigation. Usually, the police worry that the suspect will run away or dispose of evidence during the police investigation.

After the hearing, the court decides whether there are legal grounds for detention before the actual trial begins. This is called remand imprisonment.

Even if a person is in remand imprisonment before the trial, that does not mean that he or she is guilty of the crime.

Read more about remand imprisonment on the website of the Prison and Probation Service of Finland .

The charge and other court documents may be sent to you by post or possibly by electronic means. Sometimes you get the papers delivered to you by a process server. His or her job is to make sure that the important papers can reach you. Your signature is usually required to acknowledge receipt of the papers.

• In the charge, the prosecutor informs you of the act for which he or she requests punishment for.
• In the charge, the prosecutor also indicates what, in his or her view, would be a fair punishment for the act.
• The charge also includes the evidence on which the prosecutor will rely at the court hearing.
• In cases where the victim claims compensation from you, you will usually be informed in advance in writing of the amounts in euros and the grounds for the claim.
• The court summons will indicate when and where the case will be dealt with and whether you need to be present.

A minor accused of a criminal offence is almost always entitled to the assistance of a legal counsel, or so-called defence counsel, before and during the trial. The legal counsel knows how to handle the matter and tells about how the case proceeds.

Usually, a minor suspect is assigned a defence counsel already during the police investigation and you do not have to worry about it yourself. It's important that the defence counsel is already with you during the police interrogations. He will come to court with you in due course. The defender will consult you, contact the court and assist in the trial.

 If necessary, you can find a legal counsel online:
legal aid offices  
attorneys
licensed trial counsels, website in Finnish

You are always entitled to a free legal counsel, or defence counsel. A legal counsel is paid a fee from state funds, but if you are found guilty of an offence, you may be ordered to compensate the state for the defence counsel's fee. However, as young people rarely have income or wealth, the cost is generally borne entirely by the state.

You can either call the court or send an e-mail. If you send an e-mail message, clearly enter who you are, what matter your message is about, what your message is about, and how to contact you best. The message you have received shows the contact details and case number of the person handling the matter. It's important to include this in your message.

If you submit personal and sensitive information to the court, see instructions for sending a secure message .

The legal counsel or defence counsel assigned to you is usually the one to whom you should first contact for advice. It is his or her responsibility to inform you of the steps and progress of the trial in an understandable manner.

You have the right to a fair trial and fair treatment. If you are accused of an offence, you have the right to be informed of all claims against you and of all material presented against you. You have the right to comment on such material and to give evidence in support of your own position. You also have the right to ask questions of the witnesses.

What matters is that you understand what you are accused of and have the opportunity to defend yourself. You can always speak your mother tongue, Finnish or Swedish, with the authorities. If your mother tongue is not Finnish or Swedish, you will be provided with free interpretation and necessary translations of documents.

It is impossible to say in advance how long the case will take before the trial. The investigation of the offence begins with an investigation by the police and the matter is then referred to the prosecutor for consideration. Only after that will it be on the judge's desk. The judge will prepare the case and may request written answers before ordering a hearing. The day of the hearing must fit the schedules of the prosecutor and the lawyers. It is very common that it takes several months, sometimes almost a year, for a criminal case to proceed from the occurrence of the suspected crime to a court hearing. That is very unfortunate, because the aim is to deal with matters involving minors as quickly as possible.

When the case proceeds from the prosecutor to the judge, the trial must be held within one month if only all the persons involved are reached in time and there are no other obstacles. In any case, a minor's criminal charge must be dealt with and resolved as a matter of urgency.

Depending on the charges, the seriousness of the case and the evidence presented, the judge may want you to be present at the court hearing. Then you may be summoned to appear before the court under penalty of a fine.

If you are absent for no valid reason, the fine will be imposed on you. The fine may be several hundred euros. Unnecessary absences lead to delays, frustration and extra costs. So do not decide on your own not to appear in court.

• Ordinary illness or work obstacles, study, family or holiday are not acceptable reasons for staying out of court.
• In the event of an obstacle, you must be active and inform the judge. Follow the order in the summons until the judge informs you otherwise.

Please note, however, that you always have the right to be heard and that this is often also the best way to clarify the matter.

Watch the video 'appearing in court' with the English subtitles (Youtube)

Non-compliance leads to the penalties announced in advance in the documents.

So read carefully whether you should be present at the court hearing. If you are not sure, check with the sender of the summons.

When you are charged with a minor offence and the matter is tried in court, the prosecutor asks the Prison and Probation Service of Finland to draw up a pre-sentence report on you so that the judge can obtain information on your life situation. This will help the judge to consider a fair punishment if you are found guilty of a crime. The aim is not only to punish but also to try to break the drift into crime. A pre-sentence report is requested automatically for all persons who are under 21 years of age at the time of the suspected offence, and it is likely that the suspected offence will result in a more severe punishment for you than the fine.

The pre-sentence report is usually prepared in cooperation with you, your guardian and the social welfare authority. The report will map and highlight the information received during meetings, interviews, hearing your guardian and various authorities. The report will gather information on, for example, possible substance abuse, rehabilitation, mental health and other issues related to your social situation.

Read more about the pre-sentence report on sanctions on the website of the Prison and Probation Service of Finland .

The media or the public are generally not allowed to listen to the trial if the accused person is under 18 years of age. The idea is to protect the privacy of minors from harmful publicity. However, the name of the accused person is always public information and cannot be concealed if someone requests it from the court.

You may make a request to the court beforehand that no persons other than the parties and witnesses involved are allowed into the courtroom.

• You can contest the charge in whole or in part if you think that you are not responsible for the events or that the prosecutor's description of the events is incorrect (“I was not present at the time of the event”).
• You can also confess something unfavourable to yourself (“I once punched him with my fist”).
• You can also comment on the offence (“I do not consider this to be aggravated assault”).
• You will also be asked to comment on claims for compensation, for instance: (“I agree to reimburse the full amount claimed by the victim” or “I refuse to reimburse the full amount because I think it is excessive. Half of it would be OK.”).

The judge shall chair the hearing. All parties involved must follow his or her instructions.

At the beginning of the proceedings, the prosecutor and the victim will still make their claims against the accused aloud. They are generally the same as those previously notified in writing. The judge then asks the accused whether he or she accepts or contests the claims. At this point, the accused may respond to the demands and state whether they are correct, reasonable or incorrect and excessive.

 The parties concerned, that is the victim and the accused, may in turn give more detailed reasons for their position. Next up is the presentation. The documentary evidence will be examined and first the parties will be heard and then the witnesses.

At the end of the procedure, it will be up to everyone to present their closing statements before the end of the procedure.

The prosecutor is obliged to prove the course of events described in the charge. The accused person is not obliged to prove his or her innocence or to contribute to the inquiry. The accused does not have to say anything about the events themselves, but it is often sensible to express his or her own view of how things progressed, because only in this way can the events be assessed as a whole, considering everyone's perspectives.

 If, at the end of the proceedings, the judge finds that the evidence presented in the case has been sufficient and the accused is found guilty, the judge shall impose a penalty. Otherwise, the charge will be dismissed.

Watch the video 'how a trial proceeds' with the English subtitles (Youtube)

In Finland, the most common punishments are a fine or imprisonment.

According to the law, the sentence imposed on a person who has committed an offence at the age of 15-17 may not exceed three-quarters of what an adult would be sentenced to.

A criminal case handled in court may also end with a judge leaving you completely without punishment if he or she considers that the act was due to lack of understanding or of imprudence.

Minor offences are usually punishable by fines.

The amount of the fine is obtained by multiplying the number of unit fines by an amount proportionate to the amount of your income. If there is no income, the minimum amount is EUR 6, which means that if you are fined 30 per day, for example, you will be multiplied by EUR 6, which means that you will have to pay a fine of EUR 180.

A person sentenced to imprisonment for an offence usually has time to prepare for his or her departure to prison. However, if a person has already been imprisoned pending trial and is sentenced to a long sentence, he or she usually continues to be in prison without being released.

In Finland, the Prison and Probation Service of Finland is responsible for the enforcement of sentences.

In Finland, life imprisonment is not really life imprisonment.

In Finland, life imprisonment means that a person is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the end of which has not been set for a specific day or year. A life prisoner may apply for his or her release with a special application. Many life prisoners will be released after about 15 years.

No, there are not.

In Finland, a person may be punished for a criminal act by a fine or imprisonment or, in certain cases, by community service or a monitoring sentence. For persons under 18 years of age, the punishment may include a fine, imprisonment or a juvenile punishment.

For example, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution of Finland prohibit the death penalty. No one is sentenced to death for what they've done.

Both unconditional and conditional imprisonment and juvenile punishment shall be entered in the criminal record.

• Your data can be disclosed from the criminal record, for example, for the purpose of determining and assessing your reliability or personal suitability.
• Entry in the criminal record or in the police information system may prevent you from accessing some studies or jobs, for example.
• The data are removed from the register depending on the nature and length of the sentence, but not earlier than 5 years.

If you are convicted of an offence in connection with which damage has been caused, you are responsible for paying compensation. Compensation may cover, for example, broken or lost goods, pain and suffering caused by violence, medical costs and sometimes non-material damage to the victim. Damages may amount to several thousand euros.

The liability for damages does not depend on whether the offender has been sentenced to a punishment. The perpetrator must always make good the damage caused by the crime. A person under the age of 15 may also be ordered to make good the damage he or she has caused, such as scribbling on walls, hurting another person or damaging property.

However, the liability for damages may be mitigated if the circumstances are such that it would be unreasonable to impose full compensation on a minor child.

Yes, you have. According to the Finnish legal system, a court decision can be appealed against. This means that the case is referred to a higher court for consideration. This in turn means that the trial will be conducted, in whole or in part, again before a new judge or judges. The higher court then gives its own decision on the matter and the earlier decision may change or remain in force as such.

Appeals are also referred to as review of a judgment of a lower court. At the same time, when a judge gives the sentence, he or she will inform you how you can go forward if you wish to appeal the judgment.