Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics on number of registered criminal offences committed by minors are part of the Danish System of Criminal Statistics. The System of Criminal Statistics includes data on criminal cases from the reported offences and charges to the convictions plus arrests and imprisonments.

Reported offences committed by young people below the age of criminal responsibility include cases where a young person has committed an offence that has come to the attention of the police. According to section 15 of the Penal Code, children under the age of 15 (and under 14 during the period from 1 July 2010 to 1 March 2012) cannot be punished, and no charges are brought against them. In cases where the police investigation shows that a reported offence has been committed by a person under the age of 15, the young person is nevertheless registered in the police systems with information on the type of offence, etc.

The statistics on number of registered criminal offences committed by minors is a case statistics and shows the number of offences of criminal code, the Danish Road Traffic Act and special laws/legislation, for those who would have been charged for the offence if they had been above the age of criminal responsibility. The [reported offence] is identified by a journal number and a personal identification number. Other key variables are the code number of the reported criminal offence, age, gender, municipality, the date and time of the criminal offence.

Classification system

Grouping of the codes of the criminal offences, violations of the Danish Road Traffic Act and special laws/legislation. The criminal code is divided into four subgroups: Sexual offences, crimes of violence, offences against property and other offences. The statistics are published for aggregated offence categories as well as selected individual offences for crimes of violence and offences against property. The most special laws/legislation are referred to as single acts, while the rest are categorized as 'Any other special acts'. The grouping can be seen here: Violations of the penalcode.

Sector coverage

Not relevant to these statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Reported criminal offence: A report is made when a criminal offence (crime) is reported to the police or has come to the knowledge of the police in some other way.

Statistical unit

The unit in the statistics is the criminal case - here as a reported criminal offence.

Statistical population

Recorded violations of the Penal Code, the Road Traffic Act and special legislation in Denmark (excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands) committed by persons aged 10-14 years, which have been reported to the police or detected by the police themselves.

Reference area

Denmark, except the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Time coverage

The statistics cover the period from 2005 onwards.

Base period

Not relevant to these statistics.

Unit of measure

Number.

Reference period

01-01-2025 - 31-12-2025

Frequency of dissemination

The statistics are published annually.

Legal acts and other agreements

The Act on Statistics Denmark § 6. There is no EU Regulation related to the statistics for these statistics.

Cost and burden

There is no response burden as the data are collected via registers.

Comment

Further information can be obtained by contacting Statistics Denmark directly.