Professor

Raimo Lahti


consultant for reforms of criminal law and criminal policy in Scandinavian Countries

Curriculum vitae
(summary; for a full cv and a list of publications, see www.helsinki.fi/oik/tdk/lahti.htm)

1. Personal information

  1. Full name: Raimo Otto Kalervo Lahti, Mr.
  2. Born: January 12, 1946, in Jyväskylä (rural community), Finland.
  3. Married to Senior Judge (Helsinki Court of Appeal; ret. 2006) Varpu Kekomäki; two adult children and five grandchildren.
  4. Email-address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2. Education

  1. Master of Laws 1966, Licentiate of Laws 1967, Doctor of Laws [On the Waiving of Measures in the System of Criminal Sanctions] 1974, Master of Social Sciences (Sociology) 1971; all degrees at the University of Helsinki.
  2. Trained on the bench (Circuit Court Clerk and Deputy Circuit Judge), 1970–1971.

3. Full-time posts and academic positions

  1. Professor of Criminal Law, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law, 1979–2014, Professor Emeritus since July 1, 2014.
  2. Responsible Part-time Teacher in Medical Law and Biolaw, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law, 1997–2011.
  3. Visiting Scholar (Research Professor), Law School of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA), 1983.
  4. Acting Professor and Professor in Criminal Law, University of Turku, 1974–1979.
  5. Acting Legislative Counselor, Ministry of Justice, 1970.
  6. Researcher in Criminal Sciences, Academy of Finland, 1970–1973.
  7. Research Assistant and Assistant in Criminal Law, University of Helsinki, 1967–1970.

4. Career-related official tasks and activities

  1. Elected as ad litem Judge to the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) by the United Nations General Assembly, 2005–2009.
  2. Member of the High Court of Impeachment, 1994–2000./div>
  3. Member of the Task Force on the Finnish Criminal Code Reform, Ministry of Justice, 1980–1999, individual expert tasks since 2000.
  4. Permanent Expert for the National Board of Health, 1970–1991; Permanent Expert for the National Authority of Medico-legal Affairs, 1992–2008; Chairman of the Commission on the Legal Safeguards in Health Care, appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 1980–1982; Secretary of the Committee on the Reform of Abortion, Sterilization and Castration Legislation, appointed by the Council of State, 1967–1968.
  5. Numerous other expert tasks in legislative drafting for Parliamentary Committees, since 1969.

5. Career-related tasks in scientific administration

  1. Member of the National Advisory Board in Health Care Ethics, 1998–2002.
  2. Member of the Research Council for Culture and Research, Academy of Finland, 1995–1997.
  3. Editor-in-chief of the leading Finnish legal journal "Lakimies", 1991–1999.
  4. Member of the Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology, 1983–2000.

6. Tasks in non-governmental international and national organizations

  1. Member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP) since 1978 and Vice-President of the AIDP since 1994; Chairman of the Finnish Section of the AIDP since 1987.
  2. Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Social Defense and Humane Criminal Policy (SiDS), since 2010.
  3. Member of the International Advisory Board of the European Institute of Criminal Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), 1993–2012.
  4. Member of the Board of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, 1995–2010.
  5. Chairman of the Finnish Association for European Criminal Law, since 1995.
  6. Chairman of the Finnish Section of the International Commission of Jurists, 1985–1989.
  7. Has been Chairman or Member of the Board in numerous Finnish scientific organizations.

7. Research projects, post-graduate education and publications

  1. Director of following research projects financed by extra-budgetary funding (in which one or more doctoral candidates have been involved): Military criminal justice, 1982–1984 (funded, i.a., by Defence Command); Medical law, 1982–1991 (National Board of Health); Theoretical foundations of criminal law, 1987–1989 (Research Fund of the University of Helsinki); Status and rights of patients, 1995–1997 (Research Fund of the University of Helsinki); Biomedicine and law, 1998–2000 (Academy of Finland); Economic criminal law, 2001–2009 (Ministry of Interior); Pluralism in criminal law, 2004–2005 (Academy of Finland); Theoretical foundations of biolaw, especially the legal dimensions of the research on human embryos and stem cell, 2005–2008 (Academy of Finland); Scientific research and law, 2009–2011 (Academy of Finland); Reuse of the data of social sciences and humanities, 2012–2014 (Kone Foundation); Criminalizing cartels in Finland, 2013–2014 (Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority); Legal and ethical issues of the personalized medicine to predict and prevent Type 1 Diabetes, 2015–2019 (Academy of Finland).
  2. Supervisor of 29 finalized doctoral theses (12 of them during 2006–2016); supervisor of over 10 doctoral theses in progress.
  3. Over 300 publications in the fields of criminal sciences as well as in medical law and biolaw; over 90 of these published in foreign (English, German, French) languages.

8. Honours and awards

  1. Medal "SL K": Knight Commander of the Order of the Lion in Finland, bestowed by the President of the Republic on December 6, 2005.
  2. Medal "SVR R I": Knight I of the Order of the White Rose in Finland, bestowed by the President of the Republic on December 6, 1995.
  3. Medal "XXX" (for the 30 years' career as a civil servant), bestowed by the President of the Republic of Finland on December 1, 2000.
  4. Fellowship in the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, awarded on April 9, 1984.
  5. Writings in criminal sciences in honour of Raimo Lahti on his 60th birthday, January 12, 2006 [in Finnish]: "Rikosoikeudellisia kirjoituksia VIII Raimo Lahdelle 12.1.2006 omistettu." Publications of the Finnish Lawyers' Association, Series A, No. 268. Helsinki 2006. XII + 559 p. (Bibliography of Raimo Lahti, ibid. pp. 541-559.)
  6. Festschrift in Honour of Raimo Lahti. Edited by Kimmo Nuotio. Forum Iuris, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 2007. VIII + 374 pp.

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