Legislation
distinguishes between:
-
Young people below
the age of 15
-
Young people between
the ages of 15 and 18
-
Young people above
the age of 18
Young people below the age of 15
Young people below
the age of 15 cannot be charged and punished under the penal code.
Instead, social services must take action to
prevent further criminal activities on the part of the youth.
According to the Social Services Act, §40, Social
Services may take various measures, for instance:
-
Connecting the young
offender with a case officer
-
Providing assistance
for leisure activities and educational opportunities
-
Out-of-home
placement, on a voluntary basis or forced, or in the form of
preventive detention
Young people between the ages of 15 and 18
Society intervenes
when young people between the ages of 15 and 18 commit crimes or
break the law. Depending on the nature and
extent of the criminal activities, different types of sanctions and
punishment may be implemented. During
sentencing, the court will consider the personal situation of the
young offender, including his/her age. Besides
the punishment provided for in the sentence, the young offender is
liable to pay the legal costs (lawyers' fees etc.) in addition to
damages to cover any losses as a result of the crime.The
sentence will also appear in the criminal record of the offender, and
this may present some difficulties when looking for work.
Young people between
the ages of 15 and 18 can be sentenced to various types of punishment
depending on the nature of the offence ·
Caution or fine
In less serious
cases, the chief of police may decide to settle the matter by caution
or fine, without compelling the young offender to stand trial.
Matters that may be settled in this manner
include: shoplifting, first-time offences of taking without the
owner's consent, petty incidences of forgery and falsification of
documents, young people caught in possession of illegal substances
for personal consumption, and the like. It
is a precondition that the young offender pleads guilty to the
offence, and is willing to pay the fine, if applicable.
Dismissal of Charges
A case may be dropped
partially or entirely if:
-
The crime in question
cannot lead to sanctions more severe than a fine.
-
The crime in question
is “unfit for punishment”, i.e. crimes of a less serious nature.
-
The offender is below
the age of 18, and remedial measures are implemented. See section on
conditional dismissal of charges.
In all of the above cases,
it is a precondition that the young offender confesses to the crime,
and that the case involved neither assault and battery, nor robbery.
Dismissal of charges is
handled by the prosecuting authority, often after consulting with the
municipal social services department, and must be approved by the
court.
Unconditional
dismissal of charges: If the young
offender is otherwise a functional member of society – that is, if
his personal, social, educational, and work situation is acceptable,
and his offence is not thought to be the beginning of a life of
crime, charges may be dropped without further conditions.Normally,
the offender will still have to pay a fine in addition to the cost of
any damages incurred by others as a direct effect of his/her offence.
Furthermore, a probational period of 1-2 years is often included when
the charges are dismissed.
Conditional
dismissal of charges: There will often
be a number of conditions included with the dismissal of charges.
Conditions that the offender must meet in order for the charges to be
dropped. First and foremost, the offender
must commit no further crimes during the time of probation, while the
conditions are in place. Furthermore, there
will often be conditions of remedial or corrective measures under §40
of the Social Services Act, i.e. the offender must accept, and comply
with, guidance and counselling from the municipal social services
department.Alternatively, an action plan order may be effected.
Should the offender fail to comply with the
conditions, criminal proceedings may be resumed.
Youth action
plans: Action
plan orders are a possibility in cases where a young offender has not
embarked on a full-blown criminal career. That is, the young offender
has no previous cases of dismissal of charges, or custodial
sentences of imprisonment.
According to current legal
practice, young offenders may receive an action plan order in place
of conditional dismissal of charges or suspended sentencing (provided
this would be the offender's first suspended sentence.)
Action plans are
written contracts, wherein the young offender – with the consent of
his/her parents – pledge to adhere to certain provisions approved
both by the municipal social services, and by the police. The
courts must approve the action plan, and thus have final say over the
handling of the case.
The preconditions for
youth action plans are:
-
The young offender
must be between the ages of 15 and 18.
-
The young offender is
not a repeat criminal, i.e. has no previous cases of dismissal of
charges or custodial sentences of imprisonment.
-
The offender has made
a full confession of his crime, and both the offender and his/her
parents accept and sign the action plan.
The advantages to
action plans are: swift treatment of the case, and that the
transgression will only be set down in the offender's criminal record
for one year (against the normal period of two years). It
is, however, a precondition that the offender has no other criminal
record at the time. Ordinarily, no fine
will be incurred, but the offender may still be required to pay
damages etc.
Conditional or Suspended Sentence
If charges against
the young offender have already been dismissed on one or more
occasions, without this leading to a cessation of criminal activities
on the part of the offender, it is ordinary that he/she receives one
or several suspended sentences, depending on the severity and extent
of the criminal activities. A suspended
sentence means that the offender will receive a prison sentence, but
that he/she won't be required to actually serve the sentence,
provided that the conditions of suspension are met, and that the
offender engages in no further criminal activities for the duration
of the suspension – normally two years. Should
the offender fail to comply with the conditions, criminal proceedings
may be resumed.
Community service:
Community service is meant to replace
unconditional prison sentences. It is rare
that young offenders below the age of 18 are sentenced to
unconditional imprisonment, and so it is likewise rare for young
offenders to be sentenced to community service. Should
the young offender receive a so-called “combination sentence” –
a sentence providing for a certain part to be served outright, 6
months or less, with the remainder being suspended – community
service may be included as a condition for the suspended part of the
sentence.
Community service is
unpaid work done for a predetermined number of hours, for the good of
the community or society at large. The
Prison and Probation Service will find the “work” to be done by
the offender. Often, this means work in
local sports clubs, church organisations, homeless shelters, etc.
Youth Sanction (ungdomssanktion)
The court may
sentence a young offender between the ages of 15 and 18 to therapy
over a period of two years. This type of
sentencing is reserved for young offenders with grave problems
adjusting to society, and who have committed serious offences
directed at other people, such as assault and battery, robbery, or
rape.The alternative to a sentence of psychiatric treatment is an
unconditional prison sentence. The youth
sanction sentence has a duration of two years, and is divided into
three distinct phases.
The three phases of the
youth sanction sentence:
The first phase
is ordinarily comprised of a two-month confinement in the secure ward
of a safe accomodation.
The second phase
consists of a stay in an open institution for a period of up to 12
months. The treatment must include efforts
with respects to emotional development, social behaviour, academic
learning, and practical activities, and must comprise a variety of
demands regarding education, work, housing, leisure activities, etc.
The heart of the matter is that the therapeutic
process must be tailored to meet the individual long term needs of
the offender, and must be evaluated and adjusted to match his/her
progress.
The third phase
is focused on re-entry into society, and has a duration of around 10
months.During this time, the young offender remains in contact with
social authorities, who will aid and assist him/her in building an
independent life on a solid foundation.
The court will make
its decision on whether to sentence an offender to therapy based on
an opinion given by the social services department. This
opinion must contain a provisional action plan for the young
offender. The duration of stays in the
institutions during the first and second phases mentioned in the
above will vary with the individual needs of the young offender.
However, the young offender must be
institutionalized for no more than 18 months out of the two-year
sentence.
Prison Sentence
If the young
offender has previously been convicted of a crime, and has received
dismissal of charges and suspended sentences, he will most likely be
sentenced to prison (unconditional sentence). So-called
combination sentences are also a possibility. This
means that the offender must serve a portion of the sentence in
prison, while the remainder is suspended.Denmark has acceded to the
United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. This
means that young offenders will, under ordinary circumstances, not
serve their sentence in prisons with adult inmates. Instead,
the prison term is often served in so-called “surrogate
confinement” (fængselssurrogat), i.e. in the locked ward of an
institution dealing exclusively with young prisoners.
Young People Above the Age of 18
If young people
above the age of 18 commit a crime, they will charged and punished
under the penal code. When the offender is
above the age of 18, the case rests solely with the police.
Normally, the court will hand down a suspended
sentence with or without attached conditions, or an unconditional
sentence (prison sentence).
Glossary:
Remedial
measures: Guidance and assistance from
social services/the municipal authority, which must be adhered to and
obeyed.
Combination
sentence: a type of sentencing which
means that the offender must serve a portion of the sentence in
prison, while the remainder is suspended.
Suspension
period: Often, the court will set a
suspension period of 1-2 years, for instance in connection with
suspended prison sentences.If the convicted offender commits further
crimes within the suspension period, the previous sentence may be
revived and added to the sentence received for the new crime.
Criminal record (straffeattest):
Anybody can contact the police and ask for their
personal criminal record. Young people
below the age of 18 will need the consent of a parent. The
most common reason to ask for a print-out of the personal criminal
record is because an employer requires a “clean” criminal record
prior to hiring a new employee. Only
offences committed after the age of 15 are recorded in the criminal
record (children between the ages of 12 and 15 may only be registered
in case of particularly serious offences). Generally,
fines and dismissals of charges appear on the criminal record for two
years, after which time they are removed. Conditional
or suspended sentences appear on the record for 3 years, and
unconditional sentences are on the record for 5 years. If
you apply for a job with the police force, the army, or certain other
positions in the public sector, you must present a so-called
“extended criminal record” (udvidet straffeattest) – i.e. one
where information on fines, sentences, etc. are not removed until
after 5-10 years.
Breach of
conditions: Should the young offender fail to comply with the
conditions imposed as part of a dismissal of charges or a suspended
sentence, criminal proceedings may be resumed. The
court may then decide to issue a caution, change the conditions
imposed at the previous sentence, and extend the suspension period,
or issue a new sentence laying down a new punishment, or declaring
that the previously suspended sentence must now be served in prison.
Need more information?
Get in touch with your local police department, or the social services
department in your municipality.
Read more about
social measures and provisions in the Social Services Act, which may
be found here (Danish).
Article written by Anne Mette Engelbrecht
Translated from
the original Danish
