To improve the handling of hate crime cases by prosecution services, the Director of Public Prosecutions produced an overview of judgments in which the court increased the sentence according to section 81, para. 6 of the Criminal Code. The overview is updated regularly with new cases where the court has assessed that there was a motive of hatred underlying the crime. Prosecutors and defence attorneys can also use the overview when preparing cases.
The Danish National Police engages in regular dialogue on hate crimes with a number of relevant civil society groups, including the Muslim Council, the Jewish Community in Denmark, LGBT+ Denmark, and Disabled Peoples' Organisations Denmark. The dialogue between police and civil society was set in motion to establish closer and ongoing co-operation with civil society and obtain their input on future efforts of the police in this area. The dialogue also aims to encourage victims to report hate crimes to the police and identify any difficulties or barriers they face when doing so.
ODIHR recognizes Denmark's efforts in facilitating online reporting and improving hate crime victims' access to information about the reporting. However, based on the available information, it observes that Denmark has not reported data on hate crimes recorded by the prosecution ODIHR. In addition, ODIHR observes that Denmark would benefit from ensuring that hate crimes are addressed in a comprehensive manner, including by introducing a co-ordination mechanism.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes and to reporting such crimes periodically to ODIHR. Furthermore, in Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 13/06, participating States committed to ensuring a comprehensive approach to hate crimes. Co-operation and co-ordination between the authorities and civil society organizations is needed to meet this commitment. ODIHR stands ready to support Denmark in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as through its resources on developing co-operation mechanisms to address hate crimes.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.