Legislative proposal wants to see all crimes resulting in a jail term of more than 30 days listed on person’s criminal record
Politicians want to target tax cheats and environmental polluters so that it’s not just drug lords and robbers who end up with a criminal record.
Currently only those who violate criminal law, receive a fine for that violation or break laws on psychedelic drugs are slapped with such a record.
Conservative Party justice spokesman Tom Behnke has submitted a proposal that would see all those given a prison sentence of more than 30 days receive a permanent note of their crime on their criminal file.
‘It shouldn’t be the type of crime that decides what goes on the record. It should be that you’re given a criminal record if you’ve committed a crime so serious that it warranted a prison sentence,’ Behnke told Politiken newspaper.
The proposal has received support from a number of political parties, but they have called for further debate on the issue to ensure that criminal records are not used to further punish people after they have served their time.
‘It’s a good idea to record all serious crimes on a criminal record to send the signal that society is taking a stand against these violations, but at the same time we can’t brand people. If you’ve been sentenced for polluting then it’s fortunate if you don’t get a job in the Environment Ministry, but maybe you could still be employed by DSB,’ said Liberal justice spokesman Kim Andersen.
The Copenhagen Post
