1. Legal aid in Rape Crisis Centre Tukinainen
Elina Järvenpää
Lawyer,Project coordinator/expert

2. Legal advice
Information and advice about sexual crime before report to police and even when you will not report to police.
Possibility to private appointments and legal help.
Free legal advice from lawyers, help line (Monday- Thursday from 1 pm to 4 pm) and internet service Nettitukinainen.
Discussing respectfully with the victim about her/his rights.
Information about criminal prosedure.
Possibility to anonymous consultation.
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3. Criminal procedure
If you have become a victim of a crime, report it to the police. The sooner you make the report, the greater are the chances for the police to solve the offence.
If you have been injured in connection with the offence, you should go and see a doctor as soon as possible.
If the case concerns sexual assault, you must avoid washing yourself and changing clothes before you see the doctor.
If there is reason to suspect that an offence has been committed, the police must conduct a criminal investigation.
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4. The victim Directive
Directive 2012/29 / EU (the "victim Directive") to provide for the rights of victims of crime regarding the information given to them, support and protection, as well as their participation in criminal proceedings.
In Finland, the implementation of the Directive in accordance with the proposals have brought about changes in the legislation, but significantly affect the status of the victim in other ways. Most of the legislative changes which came into force in the beginning of year
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5. Changes to the Criminal Investigations Act
New order in pre-trial authority to notify the owner of his rights in relation to support services, counseling, interpretation and translation, compensation, protection, expense reimbursement and information for handling the matter in criminal proceedings.
New pre-trial order the authority to make a personal assessment of the owner in order to determine whether he is in need of particular protection and needs the special protection measures during investigation and trial. The assessment is done in collaboration with the victim and to take into account the victim's personal characteristics, quality and circumstances of the crime.
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6. Criminal Investigation
A hearing of a child is videotaped.
Videotape can replace the hearing of the victim in the court.
In many cases, especially cases of sexual violence -> the story of the victim is the only evidence.
When the record of the criminal investigation is completed, the police will send it to the prosecutor.
When the prosecutor has received the record of the criminal investigation from the police, he or she decides whether to bring charges, i.e. whether the matter will be heard by a court.
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7. Legislation The Criminal Code of Finland (39/1889)
Section 6 - Sexual abuse of a child (540/2011)
(1) A person who by touching or otherwise performs a sexual act on a child below the age of sixteen years, said act being conducive to impairing his or her development, or induces him or her to perform such an act, shall be sentenced for sexual abuse of a child to imprisonment for at least four months and at most four years.
Section 7 - Aggravated sexual abuse of a child (540/2011)
If (1) a person has sexual intercourse with a child below the age of sixteen or in the cases where the offender is the parent of the child or is in a position comparable to that of a parent and lives in the same household with the who has reached the age of sixteen but is below the age of eighteen years, the offender shall be sentenced for aggravated sexual abuse of a child to imprisonment for at least one year and at most ten years.
An attempt is punishable.
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8. A free councel
If you have become a victim of sexual crime, domestic violence or an aggravated crime against your life, health or freedom, you have, upon reporting the crime, the right to get a free counsel to assist you during the police interrogation. If you are already to be interrogated, the interrogation may possibly be moved to another day if you ask for a counsel.
The counsel may be a public counsel from a legal aid office, a private lawyer or any lawyer who has the right to function in court.
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9. A free councel
A counsel can help you during the police interrogation by mentioning facts with legal significance. He or she may also help you when you are thinking about possible legal demands and giving your final statement about the preliminary investigation.
Before the trial, the counsel tells you about how the trial is conducted. He or she also informs the court about any practical arrangements you would like to have, for example measures to prevent eye contact between you and the suspect.
During the trial, the counsel makes sure that all facts important to your case are taken into consideration.
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10. A support person
In addition to the counsel, you have the right to get a free support person to assist you morally both during the police interrogation and during the trial.
With the support person you may freely and confidentially discuss any feelings you encounter. However, the support person is not in a position to give legal advice.
The support person may, for example, be a friend (excluding those who are likely to be used as witnesses) or someone from the Finnish Victim Support.
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11. Sensitiveness Model for Professionals of Jurisprudence
Trainings
Traumatization
Victims of domestic violence
Victims of sexual violence
Disabled victims
Victims of foreign background
Information to victims regarding legislation
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12. Current situation in Finland
Elina Järvenpää
Lawyer,Project coordinator/expert
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13. A mutual goal…
”In order to avoid putting an excessive burden on the child or family, it is important that someone identifies all authorities that have worked with them so that these authorities can be of assistance in the future and information can be exchanged between them, for example school-teacher-kindergarten-child health clinic/school health service- child protection service-forensic psychiatry centre (where sex crimes are investigated)-divisions of the healthcare system-the police and so on…
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14. Child Welfare Act
In Finland, child welfare is defined in the Child Welfare Act. This means that the activities and decisions of child welfare authorities are always based on the law.
The Child Welfare Act applies to all children in Finland regardless of their background.
In Finland, municipalities provide child welfare services.
Social workers are responsible for child welfare in municipalities.
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15. Child Welfare Act
In the Section 25 of the Child Welfare Act it is regulated a duty to notify the municipal body responsible for social services if there is a child for whom it is necessary to investigate the need for child welfare on account of the child’s need for care, circumstances endangering the child’s development, or the child’s behavior.
Child Welfare Act regulates that persons referred to in the section 25 have a duty, notwithstanding confidentiality provisions, to notify the police when they have cause to suspect on the basis of circumstances that have come to their knowledge an act of a sexual crime (Chapter 20 of the Penal Code (39/1889)) or a crime against life and health (minimum of two years penalty) (Chapter 21 of the Penal Code (39/1889)).
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16. Help and support Rape Crisis Centre Tukinainen
Girls´ house and Boys´house
Victim support Finland
Monika-Naiset liitto ry, Multicultural Women´s Association
Save the Children Finland
Shelter homes
Mannerheim League for Child Welfare
Crisis centre for adolecens
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17. Help and support
Victim Support Finland guides and supports crime victims, their close ones and witnesses of crime. Services are mainly based on voluntary work. The volunteers are carefully selected and professionally guided.
Crime victims, their close ones and witnesses may obtain a support person provided by VS when necessary.
The aim of the Monika-Naiset liitto ry is to assist women and their children who are victims of violence.
The Mannerheim League produces home-help, telephone counseling, rehabilitation and child welfare services.
Shelter homes provide services where persons either suffering from or threatened with family violence can find help in overcoming a crisis.
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18. The LASTA-model
The purpose of the project has been to create a nationwide collaboration model for the police, prosecution service, child protection service and healthcare (somatic and psychiatric) to facilitate proper handling of such cases.
Core principles of LASTA include, in addition to the exchange of information and interprofessional collaboration, coordination of the working process of the authorities and consultation between them.
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19. The LASTA-model
The following process is recommended based on the results of the development of LASTA:
1. The process is initiated by a consultation request by the police to a coordinator employed for this purpose.
2. The coordinator collects the information.
3. Whenever necessary, the police hosts meeting to discuss the case.
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20. Human trafficking
Proper identification is crucial for the victims of human trafficking.
If the victims of human trafficking are not identified, their legal right to assistance and protection cannot be realized.
The 2015 annual report of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman a clearly increasing number of young Finnish women and girls who have been subjected to sexual exploitation, either in Finland or abroad, have, during 2015, become clients of the support system for victims of human trafficking.
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21. Current situation
Cooperation between NGO´s and authorities should be developed nationwide.
Child abuse is mostly hidden criminality.
Additional training for professionals working with children is required to boost their confidence to intervene at as early a stage as possible.
The legal aspects of the cases give victims information about their rights. Through education, professionals from different fields are encouraged to learn from each other and share best practices.
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