Youth and Gang Division
Most children and young people living in Finland are doing well and do not commit crimes. Offences are concentrated among a small group of young people who repeatedly commit serious crimes. Both youth wellbeing and youth crime are visibly polarised.
Youth and gang-related crime has become a concern not only in Finland but also in many other Western countries. To curb the increase in youth and gang crime, the Government adopted a government resolution on an action plan to prevent and tackle youth and gang-related crime.
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the action plan. The Council for Crime Prevention and particularly its Youth and Gang Division assist the Ministry in non-legislative matters. The Division promotes the implementation of the measures under the responsibility of the Council and the Ministry of Justice. It may also carry out other tasks related to the prevention of youth and gang crime unless their significance requires submission to the full Council.
The Division includes both regular members of the Council and external experts, and it may also invite additional experts for hearings.
Action plan to prevent and combat youth crime
The action plan contains 43 measures grouped into nine thematic areas. The measures focus on at-risk groups and young offenders. Regarding gang crime, the focus is on combating street gang crime and preventing the recruitment of children and young people. The action plan is based on the police’s definition and situational analysis of street gangs.
The nine thematic areas are:
- support children, young people and families at an early stage
- address the delinquent behaviour of young people rapidly before, during and after criminal proceedings
- increase the responsibility of young people and guardians for damage caused by crime
- improve cooperation and exchange of information between the authorities
- enhance criminal procedure to tackle youth and gang crime
- make punishments harsher
- increase the binding nature of juvenile punishments
- prevent people from joining street gangs in communities and regions
- utilise research data
Implementing the objectives of the action plan requires multiprofessional cooperation. It is important to involve the whole of society, from supporting the educational responsibilities of homes and parents and combating exclusion and discrimination to integration and immigration policy.
Priority areas of the Youth and Gang Division
The Division’s work mainly involves preventive efforts to break cycles of crime and substance abuse before, during and after criminal proceedings, as well as the use and dissemination of research knowledge. For 2025, the Division has also selected three specific priorities:
- increasing the use of mediation for children and young people
- strengthening young people’s voice and participation
- enhancing multisectoral cooperation
Each priority supports the implementation of the action plan to combat youth crime and is prepared by a dedicated subdivision composed of members of the Division and experts invited for hearings.
Communication with stakeholders, the engagement of key actors, the identification of synergies between different programmes and training are all central to the Division’s work.
Mediation is a tool in crime prevention and criminal policy that is also used to prevent youth crime. It helps children and young people understand the consequences of their actions and the distress they have caused, participate in the resolution of their case, take responsibility, and compensate any damage.
Mediation in criminal and civil matters is statutory in Finland, and various civil society organisations also provide mediation services for children and young people. However, awareness of mediation remains limited among key actors such as schools and parents. The Division therefore aims to increase actors’ awareness and use of mediation, especially among the authorities. This is important because mediation may help develop conflict resolution skills into a ‘civic skill’ used as the primary solution in various situations. Mediation is always voluntary, and the suitability and consent of all parties are assessed beforehand.
The subdivision for mediation monitors or focuses on the five mediation-related measures of the action plan:
- The process for preparing pre-sentence reports on suspects aged 15–20 will be developed to ensure effective multiprofessional cooperation in assessing the young person’s situation and to consider the potential for using mediation (as part of the broader Measure 11).
- Awareness of mediation among schools and other authorities will be improved, and young people’s cases will be more actively directed to statutory mediation in criminal and civil matters, or, depending on the case, to mediation services provided by civil society organisations (Measure 13).
- The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has prepared a manual on the use of a conferencing method involving the local community in mediation with children and young people, and this manual will be applied in practice. In addition, opportunities to use mediation to prevent cycles of violence between young people in communities and regions will be explored, and necessary local measures will be taken (Measure 14).
- In connection with pre-sentence reports, the possibility of using mediation for young people will be considered (Measure 15).
- The possibility of introducing work-based compensation models in the areas of mediation offices will be examined, and the necessary measures taken. In such models (e.g. a ‘work compensation bank’), a young person who has participated in mediation could, with the victim’s consent, compensate damage by performing non-profit work (Measure 16).
This subdivision focuses on the perspectives, experiences and ideas of young people in implementing the action plan. As young people’s voice could not be fully incorporated during the drafting of the plan due to the tight schedule, their views are now emphasised in the Division’s work.
For example, young people will be involved in preparing a communication campaign planned for the spring of 2026 (Measure 41). The planning of a citizens’ panel to be held in the spring of 2026 will also be launched this autumn.
Youth exclusion and polarisation are closely linked to youth crime. The subdivision therefore aims to bring forward young people’s diverse voices, including those not typically heard in public debate.
Multisectoral cooperation is a key theme in the action plan’s implementation. It is related to several measures such as developing the Anchor work led by the Ministry of the Interior and expanding the subsequent operating model for young people who repeatedly commit serious crimes (Measure 7).
The subdivision for multisectoral cooperation is yet to start its work, but the theme has already been advanced through collaboration in preparing the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s Non-Violent Childhood Action Plan for 2026–2033 and through the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s Safe Streets (Turvalliset kadut) project.
Members of the Youth and Gang Division
Members of the national Council for Crime Prevention:
Sakari Melander, Professor, University of Helsinki
Heidi Kankainen, Senior Police Officer, Ministry of the Interior
Marja Pulkkinen, Senior Officer, Ministry of Education and Culture
Tytti Mäkinen, Service Manager, Wellbeing Services County of Southwest Finland
Petri Salakka, Director, HelsinkiMissio
Heikki Turkka, Team Manager, Children of the Station
Kirsi Kohonen, Senior Adviser, Youth services, Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland
Expert members outside the national Council for crime Prevention:
Päivi Honkatukia, Professor, University of Tampere
Miia Lehtinen, Chief Superintendent, national Police Board
Kati Kettukivi, Director, Criminal Sanctions Agency
Marjo Malja, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Jonna Laitonen, project Manager, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tatu Keitaanniemi, project Coordinator, Association of Finnish local and Regional authorities