Bankruptcy halts crime mediation in West Uusimaa

Crime and dispute mediation has stopped in West Uusimaa after the Kalliolan Setlementti association filed for bankruptcy, Yle reports. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), which organizes and oversees the service, is seeking temporary arrangements for local residents.

THL is working to arrange similar services through mediation offices in Helsinki and Vantaa. Pending cases and new ones may be transferred to those offices, but it is not certain that every eligible case will receive mediation during the disruption.

“There is a risk of some kind of interruption or disruption to the service,” said Henrik Elonheimo, a development manager at THL. The institute will try to minimize the impact, he said, though mediation may be unavailable in individual cases. Elonheimo expects delays to be the main problem, but finding a new provider for West Uusimaa could take months.

Last year, the West Uusimaa mediation office received 700 requests, involving about 900 criminal or civil cases.

Finland has 17 regional mediation offices, run by wellbeing services counties, municipalities and organizations. The law sets out the conditions under which criminal and civil cases can be mediated. THL is responsible for organizing the service until the end of this year, when responsibility will pass to the Legal Services Agency.