Danish government aims to curb gang violence, hold families accountable

The Danish government presented a new package of anti-gang measures to counter rising gang-related crime in the country on Tuesday, which includes stricter sanctions for young people involved and a call for their families to take responsibility.

The package consists of 39 different measures aimed at curbing gang activities.

“There are significant problems with gang-related crime in Denmark. For the rest of us, gangs mean violence, shootings, murders and stabbings in public places”, Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the press on Tuesday.

“And with a boldness we have never seen before. Gangs are recruiting children and actively involving them in criminal activities,” she added.

The package includes initiatives to toughen penalties, prevent the recruitment of young people into gangs, provide additional tools for the police and take preventive measures.

The package also doubles down on weapon use, including double sentences for gang members who use knives in conflicts and stricter penalties for knife possession.

At the same time, the government plans to increase penalties for so-called ‘humiliation violence’, which includes emotional abuse seeking to create a feeling of shame and worthlessness in the other person. Gang members guilty of such an offence will lose their child and youth benefits.

There will also be tougher penalties for economic crimes, and the police will have greater powers to use civilian agents and wiretaps, while the Danish government has declared that there will be a future penal reform to review penalties for criminal activity.

“A significant proportion of the gangs are made up of young people from minority backgrounds. They are poorly integrated in Denmark. Many of them want a real parallel society with its own code of honour and rules.” Frederiksen said.

“They do not care about the number of victims. That is why you have to fight the gangs, otherwise, they will dictate the terms. This is undemocratic, unsafe, un-Danish and wrong,” she added, appealing to families to take responsibility for their children.

“You must and should do more. In fact, you must do everything in your power to stop this spiral of violence. This is not why you came to Denmark in the first place,” she said, adding that “families also have a responsibility to stop this.”

Over the past decade, Danish governments have tried to tackle gang-related problems with three different anti-gang packages.

The previous Social Democratic government, for instance, made a similar attempt, presenting a package of 30 initiatives last year, although a general election prevented its implementation.

“We have managed to put many gang members behind bars. That’s good. But it’s still not good enough,” admitted Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)