One fifth of Danes want the death penalty

Opposition party constituents particularly keen

Mar 31, 2015

Denmark, which is known as a leader when it comes to human rights, abolished the death penalty way back in 1930 (although it was briefly brought back from 1945-50 to punish Nazi collaborators).

But a new Megafon survey conducted on behalf of Politiken newspaper and TV2 shows that 20 percent of Danes would vote in favour of bringing back the death penalty in Denmark.

In particular, people who voted for the opposition parties at the 2011 election are in favour of the death penalty. Some 36 percent of Dansk Folkeparti voters said they would vote yes, as did 34 percent of Liberal Alliance voters and 32 percent of Venstre voters.

No chance
But despite their voters’ opinions, DF, LA and Venstre have no intention of adding the death penalty to their election campaign this year.

”I can understand why many believe that the judicial system needs to toughen up after the terror attack in Copenhagen,” Peter Skaarup, the DF spokesperson for judicial issues, told Politiken.

”But I don’t think that it gives society the right to take another human being’s life, even if that person has committed a really serious crime. Our justice system is built on principles that I don’t think we should discern. That would be in breach of everything we stand for.”

Among Konservative voters, 22 percent were in favour of the death penalty, as were small percentages of the other parties: Socialdemokraterne (9), Socialistisk Folkeparti (8), Radikale (4) and Enhedslisten (4).

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