Damages and the police

[Rankin]

What's the deal with causing damage to someone's property in Finland?
You call the police, they arrive and record the incident.
The person who caused the damage is asked their side of the story, if they want to pay compensation.
If they don't it goes to court.
It seems open to interpretation, meaning someone can accuse you of damaging something, when in fact it's done out of spite and the damage was pre-existing.

Is this kind of thing going considered a crime, meaning does it go on your record?
What happens if you refuse to compensate, or don't go to the court case?

[FinlandGirl]

What's the deal with causing damage to someone's property in Finland?
You call the police, they arrive and record the incident.
The person who caused the damage is asked their side of the story, if they want to pay compensation.
If they don't it goes to court.
It seems open to interpretation, meaning someone can accuse you of damaging something, when in fact it's done out of spite and the damage was pre-existing.

Is this kind of thing going considered a crime, meaning does it go on your record?
What happens if you refuse to compensate, or don't go to the court case?

There's criminal law and there's civil law.

Intentional damage and some cases of gross negligence might be crimes prosecuted under criminal law, and if you are convicted you will usually have to pay a fine or even receive a prison sentence.
Above a certain threshold this will be in your criminal record, but Migri might also consider offences below this threshold for residence permit or citizenship decisions.

Compensating for damages is something the parties agree between themselves under civil law, if they don't agree on whether or how much to compensate the conflict can be resolved in court.
Refusal to pay follows the normal debt collection and credit rating processes.

Not showing up at court is usually a bad idea, depending on the situation it either means there will be a judgement where you can not present your side of the story or that the police will ensure that you will be at court at a rescheduled date.