The number of rapes recorded by the Danish police has doubled in the past three years, according to Danmarks Statistik.
Last year, there were 744 reports – more than double the number in 2013 when the police registered 339 cases.
Much of the increase is down to changes in the registration process, explains Thomas Brædder, the chief consultant on rape at Rigspolitiet.
READ MORE: Reports of rape increase dramatically in Copenhagen
New registration process
“We are really pleased to now have more accurate figures on how many men and women report rape,” Brædder told Metroxpress.
“Previously, there were far too many cases that were investigated under the category ‘survey numbers’, which were not included in the rape statistics.”
To encourage more rape victims to come forward, the national police plans to run an awareness campaign together with hospitals in the autumn.
Conviction rate figures vary wildly
The number of reports resulting in a conviction increased from 274 in 2013 to 327 in 2015, claims the national police.
But these figures are a long way off those quoted by the Justice Ministry in 2015, which claimed the conviction rate was tiny. Of the 3,600 women annually raped, it claimed, since 2010 only 60 have been found guilty every year.
Other media reports in 2015 claimed the actual number of rapes every year in Denmark could be as high as 5,000, and that the conviction rate (of reported rapes) is only one in five.
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