1. Introduction

Organized crime changes constantly and rapidly and is becoming increasingly complex and international.

COM(2021) 170 final; Europol, 2024.

It poses a threat to those falling victim to crime, organizations in different areas of society and even the critical functions in society. Action against organized crime requires a clear strategic direction and a diverse range of measures.

In 2023, Finland’s first strategy against organized crime turned 10 years old. Since it no longer met the requirements of the changed operating environment, it was time to update it.

OM, 2013.

The Program of the Finnish Government, adopted in summer 2023, mentions the need to examine the Danish approach to combating organized crime.

VN 2023:58.

The assignment of the working group preparing the update of strategy in Finland refers to examining the approaches of Denmark and the other Nordic countries.

VN/24163/2023; OM080:00/2023.

The cross-administrative updating of the strategy is coordinated by the Ministry of Justice.

To provide background for updating Finland’s strategy, Denmark’s and Sweden’s approaches to combating organized crime as well as the impacts and effectiveness of the measures is examined in this report. These measures refer to both organized crime and gang crime. There are many different administrative and academic definitions for both, which are largely overlapping. Chapter 2 details these concepts in brief.

The report has been prepared in the “Tackling Organized Crime: Viewpoints on Nordic Policies and Practices” (TOC24) project, coordinated by the Police University College (Polamk).

See the project description on the Police University College website: https://polamk.fi/en/tackling-organized-crime-en

The project was implemented from 1 June 2024 to 31 January 2025 and was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. In addition to the Police University College, the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (Krimo) at the University of Helsinki participated in the data collection, analysis and reporting.

See https://www.helsinki.fi/en/institute-criminology-and-legal-policy

The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police Board and the National Bureau of Investigation were represented in the project’s steering group.

The steering group was chaired by Mika Junninen (Ministry of Justice) and steering group members were Sami Nevalainen (Ministry of the Interior), Tuomas Pöyhönen (National Police Board) and Markus Terenius (National Bureau of Investigation).

Danish and Swedish authorities, along with other actors, have provided useful contributions to the project.

The project plan promised to investigate the best practices for combating and control of organized crime with the help of 20–30 key documents. According to the plan, research evidence would be collected selectively using existing summary reviews and other reports. The plan also included study visits to Denmark and Sweden. In practice, the project has been realized more extensively than planned.

The report is based on several data sources. Literature sources and statistical data from the Global Organized Crime Index are used to provide background for the review.

GI-TOC, 2023. For more information, see Chapter 2 of this report.

Features of approaches against organized crime are presented through key strategic programs and legislation from Denmark and Sweden, as well as the related preparatory and monitoring material.

In this respect, the script prepared by the Police University College on strategic programs to combat organized crime in the target countries will be used (Muttilainen et al., 2024). For more information, see Chapter 3 of this report.

The effectiveness of evaluated measures against organized crime is presented using a systematic literature review.

To this end, the previously prepared review of the assessments of measures against youth gang crime was supplemented (Villman & Kaakinen, 2024). For more information, see Chapter 4 of this report.

The authorities’ assessments of the implementation of the measures are reviewed on the basis of selected documents.

For more information, see chapters 5–6 of this report.

The written material is supplemented by information collected from both countries during study visits in October–November 2024.

In Denmark, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the National Police were met. In Sweden, the Swedish Ministry of Justice and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, Brå) were visited, and remote discussions with the police’s experts on organized crime were also conducted. General observations from the study visits are reported on the basis of notes taken during the discussions. For more information, see Chapter 7 of this report.

This report focuses on selected strategic programs to combat organized crime, the impacts and effectiveness of measures and, in part, also the characteristics of organized crime. It is not possible to monitor the lifecycle of measures to combat organized crime in this report. Thus, the range of methods presented in Chapter 3 as a background to the review, may include measures that have not been implemented. On the other hand, not all combating of organized crime directly reflects the national strategic programs. Accordingly, the assessments based on research data and data of the authorities include programs, projects and pilots that are not included in the strategic programs presented in Chapter 3.

This report will be published in Finnish and English in spring 2025.

The information in this report is mainly based on the situation on 16 December 2024.

The results will be presented in a final webinar before the final report is published. Speakers from Finland and both target countries will be invited to the webinar. The results of the review will be communicated to different target groups through various channels.

The information in the report serves the implementation of Finland’s Government Program. During the project, information was shared with the working group responsible for updating the strategy against organized crime. This has supported the outlining of the strategic priorities and measures as well as legislative drafting.

Finland's updated strategy against organised crime was published in February 2025 (Junninen 2025).

The report can be useful for developing activities of authorities, in public debate, in the scientific community and education related to the topic. The information can also support the planning of measures to combat organized crime in other Nordic countries and beyond.

After this introduction, the report presents some basic information on organized crime and its prevention (Chapter 2). The report continues with a review of the strategic programs and measures against organized crime in Denmark and Sweden (Chapter 3). The outcomes and effectiveness of the measures are then presented on the basis of research data (Chapter 4), official documents (Chapters 5–6) and data collected during study visits (Chapter 7). The conclusions of the report are compiled at the end (Chapter 8).