Danish Penal Code

The Danish Penal Code,[1] also known as the Danish Criminal Code (Danish: Straffeloven),[2] is the codification of and the foundation of criminal law in Denmark. The updated official full text covers 29 chapters and is also available online (in Danish).[2]

The Penal Code contains "the most serious and most of the most well-known crimes"[3] while more specialized crimes can be found in subject-specific laws such as the Traffic Act or the Weapons Act.[4] However, serious violations of the rules in subject-specific laws might be independently criminalized in the Penal Code.[4] Certain low-level nuisance crimes are listed in the Public Order Decree.[4]

The Penal Code consists of two parts. The first, consisting of chapters 1–11 (§§ 1–97 c) contains what is generally known as the general part of the criminal law, i.e. the conditions for criminal responsibility, possible punishments and guidelines for metering them out and other rules common to all crimes.[5] The second, consisting of chapters 12–29 (§§ 98–306) contains the crimes themselves.[5]

  1. ^ "Danish Security and Intelligence Service: Danish Penal Code - Chapters 12 and 13". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b Retsinformation.dk:Straffeloven.
  3. ^ Vestergaard, Jørn (2018). "De strafbare forhold og strafferettens kilder" [The punishable acts and the sources of the criminal law]. In Vestergaard, Jørn (ed.). Forbrydelser og andre strafbare forhold (3rd ed.). København: Gjellerup. ISBN 978-87-13-05083-3. OCLC 1047702689. De mest alvorlige og mange af de mest velkendte lovovertrædelser er kriminaliseret i straffeloven af 1930[.] [The most serious and most of the most well-known crimes are criminalized in the Penal Code of 1930[.]]
  4. ^ a b c Vestergaard 2018, p. 2.
  5. ^ a b Vestergaard 2018, p. 1.