Finland

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Mattyb2024 04:02, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Basic Information

[edit] The Basics and every thing else that you need to know!

Population:5,250,275

0-14 years: 16.4% (male 438,425/female 422,777)
15-64 years: 66.8% (male 1,773,495/female 1,732,792)
65 years and over: 16.8% (male 357,811/female 524,975)

Finland is a European Country located in northern Europe. Finland is bordered by Sweden to the west, Russia to the East, and by the Baltic Sea to the south. The country as a whole is 338,145 sq km, 34,330 sq km of which is bodies of water. There are an approximated 5,250,275 people in Finland as of July 2009. The Gender ratio is broken down pretty evenly until the average person reaches the age of 65. In both the 0-14 age group as well as the 15-64 age groups, the gender ratio is within 30 or 40 thousand more females than males. After the age of 65 the there are far more females then males. by breaking down the population into age group, 15-64 year olds account for over 2/3 of the entire population leave 0-14 year olds and 65+ year olds with approximately 1/6 of the population.

Finland has a very cool climate. The sub-arctic country stays cool, but does not drop to low due to the over 60,000 lakes and the current of the North Atlantic Ocean which keep the country at a fairly moderate temperature.

People may not think of Finland of being known for anything, when in fact, The capital, Helsinki is the most northern European capital. Mattyb2024 03:31, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Religions, Ethnicities & Languages

Finland predominantly practices Christianity and most people belong to the Lutheran Church of Finland. Even the people are designated to one religion are not very fond of practicing the religion. The Finnish population is not very into the religious scene.

Lutheran Church of Finland 82.5%
Orthodox Church 1.1%
other Christian 1.1%
other 0.1%
none 15.1%

Finland is comprised mainly of Finns, (Native Finnish citizen) with a small percent of its neighboring nation inhabiting the land. The other ethnicities listed are so insignificant that they barely account for 1% of the Population. The only significant populations other than the Finns the Swedish immigrants. The presence of the Swedes and Russians can easily be explained considering they are direct neighbors, as for the other half percent there is no clear defined reason why they ended up there.

Finn 93.4%
Swede 5.6%
Russian 0.5%
Estonian 0.3%
Roma (Gypsy) 0.1%
Sami 0.1% ^[1]

The official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. The indigenous Sami language is spoken as a minority language. Other minority languages include Estonian, Russian, Finnish Romani and Finnish Sign Language.

[edit] Health & Education

Overall, Finland is a pretty healthy place. The death and birth rates are pretty equal which causes no real increase in the population. The good news is that people in Finland live to the ripe old average age of 78 which is considerably long.

The Literacy rate is 100% in Finland after the age of 15, everyone can read and write. When compared with the rest of the world is measures up with some of the worldwide powerhouses.

[edit] Brief History

Finland is a province that up until the 19th century was under Swedish rule. The Country transformed fast from an economy that was fueled by farms into an industrialized powerhouse economy that per capita wise, is one of the highest in all of Western Europe.

[edit] Crime Rates & Public Opinion

Crime rates in Finland have been some of the lowest when compared to the U.S. and Western European countries. Finland has open boarders meaning the terrorist, fugitives, and organized crime can freely move in and out of the country. Finland has the lowest number of law enforcement officers among all European nations.

112 is the Finnish Equivalent to the U.S. "911"^[2]

Due to the low crimes rates in Finland, The most frequent crime in comparison to the U.S. or other European crime are petty. Typical Crimes that occur in Finland can be from Vandalism to Theft of personal property. Like any other country, there are some violent crimes. Drug Crimes are also on the rise in Finland, and alcohol being one of them, is a large problem. As stated, the crimes that are usually committed in Finland are non-violent, and alcohol is a major contributor to the violent crimes.^[3]

Along with having lots of problems with alcohol, the Finnish police a very strict when it comes to drinking and driving.

As for putting The Finnish Legal system into a family of law, I think that it has to be in a family of it's own because it is so tranquil and unique

[edit] Elections=

[edit] Judicial Review

[edit] Courts and Criminal Law

In Finland there are seven different type of courts:

The district courts
The courts of appeal
The administrative courts
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Administrative Court
The Market Court
The Labour Court
The Insurance Court

Inside the courts there are both prosecutors and defense lawyers. The job of the prosecutors is to make sure that the defendant has a penalty that is equal to the crime that he committed. On the other side of the court room, there are defense lawyers both private and public. If the defendant can not afford a lawyer, a public one will be issued. There are judges in the legal system to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the court room. ^[4]

The Constitution contains several personal rights that citizens are entitled to when it comes to the courts system.

A fair trial
Good public administration
Open proceedings
The right to be heard
The right to receive a reasoned decision
The right to appeal against the decision

When the judges are elected, they are a judge for life with a forced retirement age of 70. ^[5] The Lawyers are required to attend a school for a formal degrees and they are also required to pass a BAR exam which licenses them to be a lawyer. ^[6]

[edit] Punishment

[edit] Legal Personnel

[edit] Law Enforcement

The Finnish law enforcement system can easily be broken down; there is the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior functions which is the main source of authority in Finland. That department is in command of the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Traffic Police, the Security Police, the Police College of Finland, the Police Technical Center, the Helsinki Police Department, and the 24 local police departments are under the command of The Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior functions.^[7] ^[8] This group of Law Enforcement teams can be categorized as Centralized Multiple Coordinated system under the taxonomy of police structures. Each of the groups has a specific task and category of law enforcement to deal with.

The National Bureau of Investigation- This task force focuses on organized crime and professional crime. ^[9]
The National Traffic Police- This Task force focuses on.. well.. traffic.
The Security Police- This task force focuses on all and any criminal activity that is a threat to the national security of Finland. ^[10]
The Police College of Finaland- This task force is responsible recruiting, researching, and training Police candidates. ^[11]
The Police Technical Center- This task force is responsible for acquiring new equipment and supplying the police with better technology. ^[12]
The Helsinki Police Department- This Task Force is directly under the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior functions and along with being a local police department, has a few other duties. ^[13]

INTERESTING FACTS

* As of 2007 there were 10,871 people empolyed by the Finnish Police

* There is one police officer for every 690 people^[14]

The Police officers use badges to distinguish their rank. [[1]] These badges can be located on their collar, hat, or shoulder.^[15]

OVERALL POLICE DUTIES

"Under the Police Act, the function of the police is to secure judicial and social order, to maintain public order and security, to prevent and investigate crimes, and to submit cases to prosecutors for decision (consideration of charges).

The police also have to perform such other duties as are separately provided for them by law, and provide anyone with assistance if it falls within their purview." ^[16]

The Military was recently formed in comparison to other countries. It was formed during the 1917 revolution in Russia to calm the situation. The Finnish military consists of an Army, Navy, and Air force. ^[17]

[edit] Crime Rates and Public Opinion

**Rates of Key Crimes in**
Lie	Theft	Breach of Contract	Assualt	Cheat

[edit] Rights

[edit] Family Law

[edit] Social Inequality

[edit] Human Rights

Finland's fundamental rights are protected by their own constitution. As of the latest update in 2007, their constitution is comprised of 13 chapters, each of which goes into the rights and rules of the citizens as well as the government.^[18]

Chapter two of the Finnish Constitution is about basic rights and liberties and 23 sections of that deal with individual rights and liberties of the citizens.^[19]

[[2]]

Rights and Civil Liberties: The Right to equality, The right to life, personal liberty and integrity, The principle of legality in criminal cases, Freedom of movement, The right to privacy, Freedom of religion and conscience, Freedom of expression and right of access to information, Freedom of assembly and freedom of association, Electoral and participatory rights, Protection of property, Educational rights, Right to one's language and culture, The right to work and the freedom to engage in commercial activity, The right to social security, Responsibility for the environment, Protection under the law, Protection of basic rights and liberties, and Basic rights and liberties in situations of emergency.^[20]

By make observations and comparisons the rights look as if many of them are paralleled with those of the United States Bill Of Rights. There is one right that the citizens have that sounds a little obscure, Responsibility for the environment.

"Nature and its biodiversity, the environment and the national heritage are the responsibility of everyone.

The public authorities shall endeavour to guarantee for everyone the right to a healthy environment and for everyone the possibility to influence the decisions that concern their own living environment." ^[21]

This idea may sound a little strange but if you look at it closely, the country is trying to promote a clean environment that everyone can enjoy. This right is something that should be taken into consideration by the world as a whole in an effort to have better living conditions.

Equality

"Everyone is equal before the law. No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person. Children shall be treated equally and as individuals and they shall be allowed to influence matters pertaining to themselves to a degree corresponding to their level of development. Equality of the sexes is promoted in societal activity and working life, especially in the determination of pay and the other terms of employment, as provided in more detail by an Act." ^[22]

Equality is the first thing that is noted in the right and civil liberties chapter and it is obviously very important to the Finnish citizens. It is interesting to note, that they even give equality rights in some circumstances to children. An important thing that is noted in this act is that there is equality of the sexes especially when it comes to pay rate and job opportunities. Looking back again it seems that these rights parallel those of the United States.

As for Discrimination, there is no place publicly documenting or advertising that there is discrimination occurring. The constitution forbids discrimination, but that is something that I feel is natural and will occur any place where humans exist.

The Native Population of parts of Finland, The Sami people Struggled with right of their people with the government.^[23]

[edit] Travel Info

For travel information visit[[3]]^[24] or [[4]]^[25]

[edit] Works Cited

^[26]

The World Factbook.

Britannica Encyclopedia.

[0] ttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fi.html

[1] ttp://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1115.html#safety

[2] ttps://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=103895

[3] ttp://www.oikeus.fi/8108.htm

[4] ttp://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/finland.htm

[5] ttp://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/finland.htm

[6] ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_Finland

[7] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[8] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[9] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[10] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[11] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[12] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/51AB1EDFFA353429C2256BB8003F8663?opendocument

[13] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/760DD35D819B5344C2256BB8003FB290?opendocument

[14] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/pages/C5FBD4CBB18744DAC2256BB800400386?opendocument

[15] ttp://www.police.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/www/police

[16] ttp://www.mil.fi/perustietoa/esittely/historia/index_en.dsp

[17] ttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf

[18] ttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf

[19] ttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf

[20] ttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf

[21] ttp://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf

[22] ttp://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/SEEJ/sami1.html

[23] ttp://www.finland.org/Public/Default.aspx

[24] ttp://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1115.html#safety

[25] ttp://www.ofm.fi/intermin/vvt/home.nsf/files/VV2008_englanti/$file/VV2008_englanti.pdf

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