/u/RamblinRambo3 with the translation

More cased of rapes than before - Tapanila mass rape suspects jailed

Rape crimes seem to have increased in private spaces but decreased in public spaces.
Police suspect that a group of youth raped a woman Tapanila.

More sexual crimes were reported to the police last year than during any other year in the 2000s.

According to the Police Academy, last year the police received reports of 939 cases of rape, aggravated rape or attempted rapes. Helsinki had 154 incidents reported, Vantaa 62 and Espoo 41.

Vantaa saw more rapes last year than at any other time during the 2000s. Helsinki has seen more cases of rape only once during the 2000s while in Espoo it has happened twice.

These figures should be treated as indicative only, as the recording procedures can vary.

Rape gained national attention on Monday when a woman in Tapanila, Helsinki got raped by a group of youth. The police detained five young men suspected of felony rape. The arrest hearing was held on Friday in Helsinki District Court.

"Some of the suspects admit that something happened, but the majority denies having committed any crime," said the investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Jyri Hiltunen of the Helsinki Police Department.

The growth of reported cases may partly be explain by the legislative amendment, which expanded the scope of rape.

"I do not think that it explains this very large increase in the number of cases. Rape cases have occurred more than before, or people report it more easily," says the Senior Planner Hannuniemi of the Institute of Legal Policy.

Helsinki Police is currently investigating the exceptional case in which five 15 to 18-year-old men are suspected of raping a young woman in Tapanila.

They are suspected for having harassed a woman on the commuter train on Monday evening, and for having raped here after she left the train to walk home.

Last year there were 17 cases of rape that occurred in Tapanila, Helsinki which all happened in a public space. A clear majority of suspected rape cases took place in private places such as homes.

"The perpetrator is mostly known by the victim, or a close family member. When the perpetrator is close to the victim the rape usually takes takes place in the home or in another private residences," says Rape Crisis Centre Development Manager Riitta Silver.

If the rape takes place in a public place, the rapist is according to Riitta Silver more often unknown to the victim.

According to the Police Academy the increase last year was mainly in rapes committed in homes or other private residences. The number of rapes that occurred in public spaces has decreased both in Helsinki and nationally.

Silver cannot say if the increase is due to more rapes having been committed or if it's due to victims reporting incidents more than before.

According to a 2014 police survey, only one in four victims of sexual harassment or violence report it to the police.

The increased number of rapes may according to Hannu Niemi correlate with the increased number of foreigners in Finland.

Legal Policy Research Institute report shows that one in three perpetrators convicted of rape are of foreign background. When it comes to rape the proportion of foreigners as perpetrators is higher than in other type of crime, in which the proportion of foreigners as perpetrators is often less than ten per cent.

According to the Police Academy study police are more likely to solve a rape committed in a private residence than a rape committed in a public space.

Last year the Helsinki police gave the prosecution, a total of 88 cases of alleged rape, aggravated rape and attempted rape. Among them 81 had taken place in a private residence, and seven in a public space.

Riitta Silver, sees it as a problem in Finland that a large number of rape cases do not lead to prosecution or trial.