Multilayered criminal policy: The Finnish experience regarding the development of Europeanized criminal justice

The article examines the development towards a multilayered criminal policy in Europe on the basis of the Finnish experience. Three basic trends are noticeable from that point of view: Scandinavization of Finnish criminal and sanction policy; the influence of human and basic rights on the Finnish legal culture and criminal procedural law; and the effects of constitutional, human rights and EU law obligations on the Finnish criminal law reform. In addition, the challenges arising from Europeanization and internationalization of criminal law and criminal justice are analysed. In the concluding remarks, Finnish and Scandinavian criticism is expressed in relation to the unification of European criminal law, in favour of ‘united in diversity’.