Concepts
Act of hatred
In principle, an act of hatred can be any act motivated by prejudices or hostility toward the background, reference group or personal characteristics of the subject. An act of hatred is an umbrella term that includes hate speech and hate crimes as well as acts motivated by hatred that do not meet the criteria for crime.
It is not always easy to determine whether offensive and inappropriate treatment is an act of hatred or a crime. Drawing a line between a hate crime and an act of hatred that meets the criteria of an offence is the responsibility of the authorities involved in the criminal procedure.
Acts of hatred include
- Crimes motivated by hatred against a population group (e.g. agitation against a population group but also other crimes, e.g. assaults, if motivated by hatred)
- Acts prohibited by the law that do not, however, involve a crime (e.g. discrimination under the Non-Discrimination Act)
- Harmful activities (racist insults, online shaming, etc.) that do not meet the criteria for crime
Hate crimes
Hate crime can be any action recognised as a criminal offence by Finland’s legislation, such as assault, illegal threat, discrimination or damage. The motive is crucial for a hate crime. A hate crime is motivated by prejudice or hostility towards the victim’s presumed or actual ethnic or national background, religious belief or worldview, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression or disability. Hate as a motive is grounds for increasing the punishment.
- The injured party has been slandered, intimidated and bullied due to disability nearly every day for a month. The offenders are suspected of defamation.
- The plaintiff was called insulting names because of their gender identity in a public Facebook group. The offender is suspected of defamation.
- Guards have assaulted the injured party when apprehending them and the situation has involved racism related to the injured party’s Roma background. The offenders are suspected of assault.
- Assault and defamation. The injured party was called names on a ship because of their Roma background and they were asked to leave the premises. When the injured party did not leave, they were punched in the face. The offender is suspected of assault and defamation.
- A neighbour punched the injured party in the face in their building stairwell and told the plaintiff to leave Finland and return to their homeland. The offender is suspected of assault.
- In a shopping centre, persons belonging to the majority population slandered and provoked young people with a Somali background because of the colour of their skin, after which one of the young people hit one of the provokers. The offender is suspected of assault. Although the provokers are not recorded as suspects in the report of the offence, the case has been included in the statistics because the police classified it as a hate crime.
- Messages of hate have been graffitied on the wall of a property owned by an Islamic community. The offence category is criminal damage. The offenders have been caught on camera but their identities remain unknown.
- A pride flag raised to the flagpole of a youth centre was taken down and burned during Pride Week. The offence category is criminal damage, but the offender is unknown.
- Flyers that invite people to take concrete action against ethnic groups have been distributed. The offenders are suspected of agitation against a population group.
- Text urging whites to fight other ethnic groups had been scribbled on the school wall. The offender is unknown but the text contains a reference to a link between the offender and far-right groups. The offender is suspected of ethnic agitation.
Hate speech
Hate speech is communication used to spread or incite hatred against one person or population group. This communication can manifest as speech, written texts, images, symbols, music, drawings or films. Some hate speech is punishable. At different stages of the criminal procedure, the police, a prosecutor and a judge will assess whether the case concerns a criminal offence. Hate speech may also include discrimination prohibited by the Non-Discrimination Act or the Equality Act.
Any speech that defames other people is harmful and must be intervened in.
Examples of hate speech:
- expressions in which a population group is threatened, defamed or slandered.
- acceptance of violence or discrimination against a group of people.
- comparison of humans with animals or vermin.
- creating a degrading, humiliating, threatening or hostile atmosphere related to prohibited grounds for discrimination, such as sexual orientation or disability.