P103 - The rule of law, democracy and societal trust in police oversight arrangements and police law-drafting in Finland

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

The poster presents a design for a three-year study on decision-making regarding the police institution in Finland.

The study examines the relationship of the police with the democratic society in Finland from the perspective of the development of police powers and oversight / scrutiny of the institution. The project will firstly examine the legislative drafting of the police powers, in particular the actors involved, and secondly analyse how the oversight of the police and the solutions for its organisation have come about and evolved. The analysis will be deepened by examining the threats and subjectivities that emerged in the lawmaking materials on police powers. The focus is on recent history, with a particular emphasis on the post-World War II period, and, given the emphasis on the development of legislation, especially on the 1990s and beyond. The study combines perspectives from law, criminology, political science, and history.

The study examines how the high level of trust enjoyed by the police in Finland is related to the democratic control of the police institution and the powers of the police. Theoretically, the study draws on democratic theory and historical criminology. Scientifically the approach is innovative and interdisciplinary, using historical contextual thinking to understand the current legal and institutional system. In Finland, the study is a socially significant illuminator of the development of police powers and the underlying patterns of thought and trends.

Authors

• Aura Kostiainen, University of Helsinki

• Aura Kostiainen, University of Helsinki