The Jokela school incident: a tragedy for all Finns

18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen opened fire at the Jokela school centre in Tuusula, near Helsinki on 7.11.2007. The senior student killed six fellow pupils, the school principal and the school nurse, before shooting himself in the head.

The news shattered Finnish tranquillity, and as the Prime Minister said, "The incident cut a deep gash in the Finns' feeling of security."

The incident was headline news worldwide.

Global publicity was inevitable and this media exposure led to hasty judgements on, for example, the Finnish mentality and loneliness and gun usage in Finland. But the reasons must surely be more complex. It has been suggested that since this incident, Finland has been irreversibly changed. In the best case this will mean that the communal grief, the sense of responsibility and caring experienced at the time of the shock, will extend further, so that troubled young people will be rescued in a more effective social safety net than previously.

Not only foreigners, but Finns too, are accustomed to considering Finland a very safe country. At least in remote rural areas the doors to houses and cars are kept unlocked, all kinds of people can use public transport safely even late at night, and you need not be afraid of the nimble fingers of pickpockets in the city bustle. News from the world outside about school killings, and metal detectors and armed guards at school gates have seemed shocking but distant. Such things could not possibly happen here.
But then the unthinkable did happen, on an ordinary Wednesday, in a serene middle-class suburban school.

Virtual threats ignored

A disquieting aspect of the incident was that Pekka-Eric Auvinen had announced his intentions in advance. Auvinen had taken part in Internet discussion forums under the pseudonym Sturmgeist89, and uploaded a video in which he described the upcoming events and fired his pistol. He uploaded a suicide message on the net, describing the reasons for his actions which followed an addled, self-constructed philosophy, judging by the messages. Even before this, he had published on several Internet forums writings which idolised violence and extreme movements from communism to nazism. Auvinen had found inspiration and like-minded people on the net, among others an American school student who had been arrested for planning a school killing. Auvinen had told schoolmates that he had acquired a gun some weeks prior to the Jokela incident.
All this was public knowledge when Auvinen started shooting at Jokela school just before noon on that fatal day. Public discussion has mulled over the question of why there was no reaction to his messages. There are two plausible explanations: Adults bearing responsibility for children are insufficiently aware of what adolescents are doing via the Internet, and of the sort of messages they send. The other reason is that the web is so inundated with all sorts of imaginary drivel that Auvinen's messages and videos were simply not taken seriously even by the young people who saw them. Some pupils present at Jokela school at the time of the shooting have said they first thought Auvinen's gunshots were bangs from a toy cap gun – it was that hard to realise that someone was actually shooting to kill.

"After this incident, the social significance of the Internet will perhaps be properly noted. It contains worlds that are important to the young," says youth researcher, Mikko Salasuo in the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti.

According to his estimation, most people taking part in Internet discussions deemed harmful to society consider them just fun and games. The discussions involve sarcasm, humour and provocation, the same elements as in other social interaction.
"Then there are those few, who might not notice this, and get drawn in too deep," Salasuo surmises.

In Finland 91% of youth spend an hour and a half on the net every day. The Internet is an essential part of their lifestyle, and limiting its content isn't easy, or even the best way to protect the young. Instead, experts recommend that adults find out more about what the young are doing on the net – a concrete method is to position the family computer in a place that is part of the common space of the family, and in full view of all. The young should also be offered mental health and social wellbeing services in the place they frequent, namely the Internet.

Is Finland the Wild North of firearms?

Auvinen killed his victims with a legally acquired firearm. International media reporting on the incident has drawn attention to the availability and high number of guns in Finland.

It is estimated that there are 2.4 million privately owned guns in Finland, that is approximately 45 guns per 100 Finns. An earlier published figure of 56 guns per 100 Finns was due to an error in the 2007 Small Arms Survey yearbook, where military small arms were mistakenly added to the number of privately owned guns. The Small Arms Survey has since corrected the error. See www.smallarmssurvey.org.

Approximately 12% of Finns hold a gun licence. Obtaining a licence is regulated by law, and the permit is granted by the police. It can be acquired if the applicant can prove that the weapon will be used for sport, gun collecting, hunting, or some other legitimate reason. The popularity of hunting is the factor that explains the large number of firearms in this country – Finland is home to the biggest areas of forest in Europe. A gun cannot be acquired for self-defence in Finland. The permit must be applied for personally. The police assess the suitability of the applicant for a gun permit through interviews and by investigating his or her lifestyle, behaviour, and possible mental health problems. Firearms-related crime is rare in Finland.
Auvinen acquired his gun in accordance with the proper procedure. He was a member of a shooting club and first applied for a 9mm pistol. This request was rejected by the police and Auvinen was granted a licence for a 22. calibre precision pistol instead. He had no previous criminal record, nor had he ever acted violently in the past.

A typically Finnish homicide?

It has been asked whether the Jokela incident was a typically Finnish act of violence. In the light of statistics it was not.
Finland has the third highest number of homicides in the EU, after the Baltic States and Hungary, but in worldwide comparison the number is low. In 2006, 138 people lost their lives as a result of violence. The population of Finland is approximately 5.3 million.

The most common type of homicide is the result of quarrelling between drunken males. In 2006, 84% of homicides took place between people who knew each other, spouses or relatives, and 81% of male offenders were under the influence of alcohol. Only 16% of homicides were committed with firearms. 72% of homicide suspects were working age unemployed people.

None of these typical features describes the Jokela incident. Acts of violence in schools are extremely rare. There has been only one previous school shooting, in Raumanmeri Middle School in 1989, the same year Jokela killer Pekka-Eric Auvinen was born.

Auvinen finally committed suicide. Suicides are more common in Finland than in most EU countries, and suicide is the most common cause of death among Finnish males between the ages of 20 and 24. Detailed investigations into the Jokela shooting are still ongoing, but some assessments categorise the incident as what is known as an expanded suicide in which the killer wanted to destroy others with him. A few cases like this take place every year but most often the victims are members of the perpetrator's family. Apparently Auvinen did not choose his victims.

Active suicide prevention work has been carried out in Finland since the early 1990s. Figures for 2004 show that the number of suicides fell from 30.3 persons per 100,000 (1990) to 20.3 per 100,000.
Closeness and companionship are balm for the wound
During the days since the Jokela tragedy, parents and teachers, together with priests and professional helpers, have assured the children that what happened was an exception and that there is no need to be afraid at school. Thus they can assure parents and students with good conscience that the daily life of Finnish children is still safe.

This knowledge does not erase the grief and shock caused by the Jokela incident, however. The only cures for them are closeness, and the sharing of feelings. Commonly regarded as emotionally stiff, Finns have during the past few weeks mourned together with unprecedented openness and mutual support.

The family members of the shocked pupils have received strong communal support, neighbours and friends have even stayed home from work to help those in distress. The environs of Jokela School Centre were turned into a sea of candlelight in a few hours. An SMS message was sent out on the day of the killings, urging people to light a candle in their window in memory of the victims, and flags were flown at half-mast. Churches usually closed on working days were opened, and all who needed someone to talk to were offered all-night help.
It has been estimated in Jokela that approximately half of the pupils, parents and teachers who experienced the shooting incident will require long-term therapy, and this will be arranged for them at the expense of the state. Everyone shocked by the Jokela incident will likewise be provided with help. The incident was discussed in schools across Finland the following day, and parents were publicly instructed on how to talk about the events with children. Moments of silence and prayer have been organised everywhere where people have assembled. This November people in Finland have cried, hugged and comforted one another like never before.

Finns have let each other know that common security comes out of human closeness, trust and sharing, not from the fear of violence. More important than installing metal detectors at school entrances is to ask a schoolmate "How's it going"?

By Salla Korpela, journalist

Sources:
Suomen Kuvalehti 46/2007
Apu 46/2007
The National Research Institute of Legal Policy
WHO
Small Arms Survey
Ministry of the Interior