A citizens' initiative demanding state-funded compensation for families of murder victims advances to parliament. The proposal follows the killing of a 15-year-old girl in Valkeakoski.
The initiative requires legislative changes making the state responsible for paying court-ordered suffering compensation to victims' relatives. The state would later recover these payments from offenders.
Campaign organizers include family members of Vendela Salminen, murdered in May 2024. Her aunt Saara Salminen and sister Vilma Salminen are among five representatives backing the measure.
Vilma Salminen previously explained the initiative's rationale. She said families find it unreasonable that offenders bear compensation responsibility. When convicts lack funds, relatives never receive payments owed to them.
Before 2006, the state covered compensation for psychological suffering. The system changed, placing burden on perpetrators.
In July, an appeals court ordered the Valkeakoski murderer to pay 63,000 euros in suffering compensation to Vendela's parents and siblings. The convicted killer was 19 at sentencing.
Citizens' initiatives need 50,000 supporter signatures within six months to reach parliament. This measure achieved that threshold on Tuesday.
The proposal argues victims' relatives deserve guaranteed compensation without pursuing debt collection themselves. It states families practically never receive court-awarded payments because offenders often lack assets.
Relatives become forced into lengthy collection processes with those who killed their loved ones, the initiative claims.
Tuomas Sakari Matias Salminen murdered Vendela in a public Valkeakoski location. A court convicted him of aggravated child rape and murder, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
This initiative exposes a genuine gap in victim support systems. Families grieving murders shouldn't simultaneously battle for compensation from penniless convicts.