The newspaper Berlingske revealed that the Danish government is preparing a proposal to amend the penal code, which includes doubling the penalty for serious and very serious violent crimes, and raising the penalty for minor violence to 50%, and for serious violence to 100%.
The proposal is expected to be presented at the end of May, after several postponements since last fall, according to what the newspaper quoted from a number of sources in the government, ruling parties and the administrative apparatus.
The government indicates that these amendments do not include raising the maximum penalties stipulated in the law, but rather guidance will be added to the explanatory notes to the Penal Code stating that Parliament considers the current penalties “not to reflect the general sense of justice.”.
In the future, judges will be required to consider the standard punishment for the crime, and then add to it by 50 or 100%, which is a clear call for greater use of existing maximum punishment limits.
According to Berlingske, the government is considering a significant expansion of the possibility of enforcing penalties through house arrest using an electronic bracelet.
