With the government’s proposal, the penalty framework will be the same, but it will be possible to add 50 percent on top of the actual sentencing.
The government will increase the penalty 50 percent for insane driving that results in death or serious bodily injury or causes imminent danger to the lives or mobility of others.
This is done to send a clear signal about the seriousness of the crime, Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup (S) tells TV 2.
– Unfortunately, we have seen absolutely horrible episodes where crazy people kill people with their insane driving. It is deeply tragic and illustrates the need for the hammer to fall far harder than it does today.
46,000 behind citizen proposals
This is not the first time the government has proposed higher penalties. On the contrary, it went again in a number of the nine initiatives the government played out with in February.
The ninth initiative at the time was to review the current penalty framework for dangerous driving.
Here it appeared that the Ministry of Justice would assess whether there was a need for tightening or new regulations to ensure that the level of penalties was sufficiently high.
Since then, 46,000 people have signed a citizens’ proposal for stricter punishment for insane drivers who kill. A proposal which, among others, 40-year-old Jacob Kjær Christensen has put his signature on.
Three lives, three years in prison
This summer, Jacob Kjær Christensen lost his little brother, mother and aunt in an accident in which a 26-year-old man in his Porsche Cayenne crashed into the family’s Citroën C4 at Bogense on Funen.
The young man was under the influence of alcohol and drove at a minimum of 154 kilometers per hour on a stretch where he had to drive 80.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and denied the right to drive for ten years, but according to Jacob Kjær Christensen does not make up for the loss and grief he will have to live with for the rest of his life.
With the government’s proposal, the penalty framework will be the same, but it will be possible to add 50 percent on top of the actual sentencing. That is, the perpetrator in Jacob Kjær Christensen’s case could have received four and a half years in prison instead of three.
Other buns on the soup
However, the government’s desire to increase the penalty by 50 percent is only the first step in the fight for fewer insane drivers in Denmark, says the Minister of Justice. The parliamentary parties continue to negotiate further initiatives – including confiscation of cars and increased control of leasing companies.
And according to Preben Bang Henriksen (V), chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, there is not much time left. In fact, the agreement would probably have already been reached if it were not for the mink situation, he tells TV 2.
50 percent on top of the current penalty is a real step in the right direction, it sounds. But not necessarily enough.
– We make fun of the victims with the current penalty levels, and 50 percent of nothing is unfortunately nothing. That is why we must go in and determine normal penalties, which the judges must take as their starting point, he says and elaborates:
– The situation where you drive 200 kilometers per hour up HC Andersens Boulevard, for example, separates the waters. Today, it would probably cost a fine or a lesser prison sentence, and we are completely disconnecting from that. There must be completely different buns on the soup.
Appointment within a week
In addition to the question of higher penalties, according to Preben Bang Henriksen, there is only one question that prevents the negotiating parties from reaching an agreement:
– We are several parties that would like insane driving to be used as a way to deport foreigners, he says.
However, the distance is not greater than that, according to Preben Bag Henriksen, it should be possible to land an agreement within a week.
Source: nyheder.tv2.dk
