The National Research Institute of Legal Policy, now called the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, launched a long-term research project in spring 1995 to study young people's criminal and forbidden activities. In the FSRD surveys, information has been gathered with the self-report method: the participants, 9th grade students from different parts of Finland, have answered anonymously to questions about their own criminal or forbidden activities.
The survey studied the extent, frequency, and nature of self-reported offending among young people in Finland as well as their attitudes towards crime and experiences of being victims. New themes in the 2024 survey included proxy offending and being encouraged to commit crimes, turning-point offences, youth groups engaged in criminal activity, supportive attitudes of street crime, as well as bullying videos and recordings of violence circulating on social media. In addition, the survey included a new vignette section designed to measure young people's attitudes toward punishments.
First, the respondents were asked about their school performance, future plans and family. The survey consisted of several broad sets of questions related to committing prohibited acts as well as becoming a victim of them. Respondents were asked about their experiences over their entire lifetime, as well as how often they had committed or experienced each offence during the past twelve months. Additional clarifying questions were also included. The prohibited acts covered in the survey included, among others, unauthorized absence from school, vandalism, theft, bullying, sexual harassment, violence, possession of a weapon, and substance use. The clarifying questions regarding prohibited acts asked, for example, whether the respondent acted alone, where the act took place, whether the act had been revenge for some previous incident, and whether the police had been informed of the act.
The survey also examined acts that other people had committed against the respondent. In the case of victimization experiences, the clarifying questions included, for example, who the perpetrator was and whether the respondent suffered any consequences from the incidents, such as physical injuries. For both committing violence and being a victim of it, respondents were also asked whether the act involved filming and whether the material was shared with other young people.
Respondents were further asked whether their parents had ever punished them physically, or whether different people, such as family members, other young people, or other adults, had used physical violence against them. The survey also explored the school climate, the respondent's leisure-time activities, their self-perceptions, and their attitudes toward juvenile delinquency. Young people were additionally asked to assess how likely they believe they are to commit offences in the future.
Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender and age as well as the number of years they had lived in their municipality of residence, number of siblings, religion, minority status, language spoken at home, parents' economic activity, and family's financial situation.
The sampling method took into consideration the size of the schools and their regional location according to Statistics Finland's urban-rural classification.