NCJ Number
131203
Date Published
1990
Length
103 pages
Annotation
This report, which is part of the first wave of field reports prepared to assess the major effects of Finland's 1989 Pretrial Investigation Act, describes criminal investigation practices in a middle-sized rural police district (population 15,000).
Abstract
This report is part of the first-wave field reports prepared to assess the major consequences of the law reform pertaining to criminal investigations. The first-wave reports are descriptions of police practices commonly used in criminal investigations before the new legislation was enacted. This study involved indepth interviews with police officers, the police chief, other civil servants, and detainees. All those interviewed had direct knowledge and experiences of criminal investigation practices. The overall profile of the town is that of a peaceful community with few crime and criminal-investigation problems. There were no glaring problems in police-suspect interviews attending criminal investigations. The police did not indicate any need for expanded powers, and there were no obvious intrusions on suspect rights as mandated under the new law, although investigations were slanted toward the interests of the police. Information that would favor a suspect's innocence was not as readily available as that which suggested guilt.