A new report has revealed that illegal downloading remains the most prominent crime among Finland’s youth. The news comes via a study conducted by the Finnish National Research Institute of Legal Policy, which said that seven out of every 10 Finns aged 15 to 16 had illegally acquired music, games and movies via the internet in the last 12 months.
Officials said that the results came via 5,000 adolescents surveyed around the country.
Venla Salmi, a researcher from the agency, told the media that the figure is not surprising given the increasing popularity of portable electronics and technology, the YLE News agency reports. Salmi noted that in terms of crime on the whole, today’s young Finns are not much different than those surveyed 10 to 15 years ago.
Among other offenses, roughly 50 per cent of respondents said that they have gotten drunk within the last year, despite figures that revealed that alcohol-related crimes have decreased among youths in recent years. Likewise, property crimes and violent offenses have declined.
Meanwhile, about one-third of all adolescents said that they had taken part in binge drinking and around 40 per cent admitted to cutting classes at school.