The exit program offered to gang members who wish to leave their gang is deemed a failure in a report released today by the Justice Ministry.

Figures from the national police, Rigspolitiet, reveal that only 37 of the 1,759 gang members registered in Denmark as of 2014 have completed or participated in an exit program since the first was established in 2011.

"We must realise that the exit efforts are not going too well," Karen Hækkerup, the justice minister, told Berlingske. 

"We need more people in the exit programs, and the effort should be improved for those who already follow a program."

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Gangsters need motivation                                
Hækkerup said that the exit programs alone can't help the gang members start a new life unless they are highly motivated to make an effort themselves.

However, the report also described the current exit program to be too complicated, demanding and bureaucratic. 

Recruiting gang members to participate in an exit program remains a challenge. Gang members typically have to turn to officers working on the streets if they wish to leave their criminal background behind, and police fear that too much outreach work would scare off potential candidates.