Comparability

Comparability - geographical

EUROSTAT and UN collect annual data from the member states on convictions for specific type of offences and publish statistics based on this. However, the range of items included in the different groups of crime can differ between countries and comparisons based upon absolute figures should be made with caution.

Comparability over time

Since 1979, the statistics has been prepared on the same date source. In general the statistics is therefore comparable during time. As a consequence of law amendments or wishes for more information on specific kind of offences the division of type of offences has been altered during the years.

Among major changes are:

In 1986, offences against public decency was divided into a number of more specific types of offences.

In 1989, amendments to the penal code took effect which concerned the crimes of violence especially in respect of sections 244-246. This caused a break in the statistics which it is difficult to assess the extent of.

Lack of registration of vehicle and offences against departmental order regarding registration of vehicles were until 2012 classed with the Road Traffic Act. Hereafter with the Tax Act.

Section 265 regarding restraining order in the Penal Code is replaced by the law on expulsion, restraining order and ban on stay in 2012.

The provisions of the Danish Criminal Code regarding sexual offences went through essential amendments taking effect from 1 July 2013. The amendments resulted in e.g. more categories of sexual offences than previously being placed under the provisions about rape (section 216). See more: Rape - Convictions and Rape - Secondary cases

A new concept of consent regarding rape is taking effect from 1st of January 2021 which has resulted in new ways for the police to register offences regarding rape. This has to be taken into account when comparing data over time.

As from July 1st 2001 lenient imprisonment was abolishes. This implies that the statistics on number and length of the sentences on and after 2001 not are comparable with the previous years as short and long sentences now are grouped together.

Fines for violation of the road traffic act below DKK 2,500 are not included in the statistics as from 2012. In the period 2001-2011 the limit was DKK 1,500 and before 2001 DKK 1,000. These changes together with changes (increases) in the size of the fines for violations of the road traffic act affect the number of fines included in the statistics.

From 2006 to 2007 there was a decrease in the number of convictions. Probably this has to be seen in relation to the reform of the organization of the police and the courts which took place in 2007 and which can have caused delay in the work of the police and the courts.

On January 1, 2018, the special burglary-section 276a was introduced into the Criminal Code. The new section meant that the removal of things from a foreign house was now also termed burglary, only the presence in the house had been unjustified. It was therefore no longer a condition for the presence to be obtained by force for example by breaking up windows or doors. In practice, it meant that a large number of reported crimes that were previously theft were now categorized as burglaries.

Law amendments and changes in the administrative praxis may have affected the development in the number of different kind of convictions and new type of convictions can have occurred as well. For a description of this, please consult the high quality documentation (in danish) in TIMES of the variable AFG_AFGTYP3.

Coherence - cross domain

The National Commissioner of the Danish Police publishes statistics about reported offences with guilty convictions for violation of the penal code. This statistics is based on the Administrative System of the National Police. Both the statistics published by Statistics Denmark and by the National Commissioner consists of decisions made in the period concerned. However, the statistics published by the National Commissioner comprised all cases in which a guilty decision has been made while the unit in the statistics published by Statistics Denmark is the main case as more than one case can be decided in the same conviction. Besides this, the grouping of types of offence in the statistics published by the National Commissioner differs from that in the statistics published by Statistics Denmark. The statistics published by the National Commissioner are not divided by type of decision or by sex and age of the convicted persons as the statistics of Statistics Denmark. On the other hand, it is possible to divide the statistics from the National Commissioner by police district and by quarter, half-year and the whole year.

Coherence - internal

Data are internally consistent.