Deputy ombudsman: Police left domestic assault cases uninvestigated - "widespread and long-standing neglect"

Deputy Chancellor of Justice Mikko Puumalainen says the police have unlawfully failed to investigate assaults that occurred in intimate relationships. In a statement from the Office of the Chancellor of Justice, he describes the scale and repetition of the errors as worrying and says the problem appears to be both widespread and long-standing.

Domestic violence has several characteristics that distinguish it from ordinary assault offences. This the reason why the legislature decided in 2011 that even a minor assault in an intimate relationship is not a private-prosecution offence. According to the Deputy Chancellor, investigating officers should no longer be in any doubt about how to proceed. He called particularly serious those cases where an investigating officer had made multiple unlawful decisions in this regard.

Even minor domestic assaults are public offences

Even minor assaults that occur in intimate relationships are subject to public prosecution; a preliminary inquiry may not be left undone simply because the victim does not demand punishment or withdraws their request. The Deputy Chancellor launched a review of 65 preliminary investigations that police records had classified as domestic violence but which had been closed on the grounds that the victim had not requested punishment.

In 43 of those cases the investigating officer had unlawfully decided to discontinue the investigation because the victim had not pressed charges. In eight cases the crime report had been incorrectly classified as a domestic violence matter. In two investigations the nature of the relationship between the parties had not been sufficiently clarified.

Widespread and long-standing problem

Statistics show that even after the 2011 legislative change the police have closed preliminary investigations in domestic violence cases because the victim did not request or withdrew a request for punishment. In his decision the Deputy Chancellor examined cases from every police department over a six-month period (1 Oct 2024–31 Mar 2025). Most of the decisions were found to be unlawful. It is reasonable to assume similar practices have occurred at other times as well. The Deputy Chancellor therefore considers the problem to be widespread and long-standing.

Following the Deputy Chancellor’s inquiry, police departments reopened the preliminary investigations in 40 cases.

Decision reference: Police procedures in preliminary investigations of assaults in intimate relationships OKV/934/70/2025