Citation

Heinonen A, Ellonen N. Policing Soc. 2016; 26(5): 503-521.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10439463.2014.989151

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Disciplinary violence against children is banned by law in Finland. According to the Finnish Criminal Code, acts of disciplinary violence fall under the category of assault. In most cases, disciplinary violence fulfils at least the essential elements of petty assault. Despite these efforts, disciplinary violence is still prevalent. Previous research has also shown that authorities find it difficult to identify cases of disciplinary violence and intervene in them. Moreover, it has been found that the police culture and police officers' interpretations of policing influence police officers' attitudes and actions. Thus, the objective of this article is to examine what police officers specialised in investigating crimes against children think about the criminalisation of disciplinary violence, how they perceive disciplinary violence and whether, in their opinion, cases of disciplinary violence require a crime process. It also examines how these police officers perceive the investigation of suspected cases of disciplinary violence. The study was conducted by semi-structured focus interviews face-to-face with 12 police officers in Finland. It was found that disciplinary violence and its criminalisation provoked different opinions among the police officers. Despite their own opinions, however, the police officers knew that it was their role to investigate these cases. It was also found that, at least to some extent, police officers' perceptions of disciplinary violence are related to their actions in practice.

Language: en