Authors

• Kääriäinen, Juha (University of Helsinki. Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy)

Keywords

court cases, courts, crime and security, criminal courts, criminal law, judges, judgments (law), law, legal decisions, offences, punishment

Abstract

In the survey, Finnish district court judges were asked to pass a sentence on various crimes according to current legal praxis. The respondents were described seven different cases, and asked what sentence they would pass in each of the cases.

The imaginary cases constructed for the survey describe following crimes: 1. Violence in public space (aggravated assault), 2. Sexual intercourse with a minor (sexual abuse of a child), 3. Sexual intercourse with a sleeping person, and coercion into sex (rape), 4. Violence in domestic relationship (assault), 5. Smuggling and selling narcotics (aggravated narcotics offence), 6. Tax evasion (aggravated tax fraud), 7. Operating a car while under the influence of alcohol (driving while seriously intoxicated).

The background variable is the respondent's gender.