The number of suspected hate crimes peaked last year

According to an annual report by the Police University College, the number of suspected hate crimes continued to increase in 2023.

According to the report "Poliisin tietoon tullut viharikollisuus Suomessa 2023" (“Hate crime reported to the police in 2023”), last year the police recorded a total of 1,606 offenses classified as suspected hate crimes. This was the highest figure ever during the history of hate crime investigation. Defamation and assault were the most common suspected hate crimes.

The number of suspected hate crimes increased in all motive groups included in the report. The most common motive for suspected hate crimes was the victim’s ethnic or national background. A significant number of hate crimes related to religious background, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and disability were also reported. This shows that hate crime is a diverse phenomenon that affects several different population groups.

For the first time, the motive groups in the report include gender-related hate crimes. Six of these were detected in the year under review. Gender-related crimes may include, for example, illegal threats and defamation.

In the statistics on last year's hate crime reports, it is noteworthy that for the first time ever, there were more suspected hate crimes against Jews or Jewishness than there were suspected hate crimes against Christians. However, Islamic people were most commonly targeted. This reflects the trends in hate crime throughout Europe, which were affected for example by the attacks against Israel by Hamas and Israel’s military response last year. Threats and violence against Jews and Muslims in particular increased in many parts of Europe towards the end of 2023. Russia’s still ongoing war of aggression also affected the trends in hate crime.

Jenita Rauta, Researcher at the Police University College, emphasizes that monitoring of hate crime is important in order to promote security and equality in society. 

"Hate crimes reflect the prejudices and discriminatory attitudes that prevail in society. Combating them requires broad-based cooperation between different actors," Rauta says.

The Police University College’s report on hate crime examines the development and manifestations of hate crime in Finland each year. The number of suspected hate crimes has been monitored to its current extent by the Police University College since 2008. The statistics on suspected hate crimes are based on crime reports retrieved from the National Police Information System.

The Finnish Criminal Code does not include hate crime or hate speech as crime categories, but hate as a motive is a basis for increasing the severity of the punishment. Therefore, any act that is defined as a crime by Finnish criminal law can be a hate crime. The motive of the act is the decisive factor.

Crime reports including suspected hate crimes in 2018–2023