Denemarken wint Europese prijs voor criminaliteitspreventie (en)

Denmark has won the 2006 European Crime Prevention Award. In the Danish project, it was possible to reduce children's risk behaviour by rectifying their misconceptions about the behaviour of other children of similar age. The award (EUR 20,000) was given at the EU Crime Prevention Network's Best Practice Conference in Hämeenlinna.

In the Danish project, school-age children were given information in the form of questionnaires and discussions about e.g. the extent of smoking that actually takes place among children of the same age. Usually, children have exaggerated conceptions about other children's smoking, alcohol and drug use, as well as criminal activity. This misconception lowers the threshold of children's own risk behaviour.

As a result of the experiment, children's misperceptions and their own risk behaviour were significantly reduced. Crime rates were halved. The Danish project used the setup of experimental research and the results were exceptionally impressive. According to the Jury, the new kind of approach and results that will also benefit crime prevention in more general terms were particular merits of the project.

In addition to the winning project, the Jury found the entries of Hungary and the United Kingdom to be strong winner candidates. The Hungarian project prevented drug abuse and related crime among young people by delegating young people in risk groups to take part in the design and implementation of a short film on the subject, to be used as teaching material.

The United Kingdom's entry focused on habitual offenders with drug addiction. It was possible to clearly reduce their crimes and drug abuse by organising immediate access to drug treatment, housing and other social assistance. The aim of reducing crime committed by drug addicts by one-third was quickly achieved.

According to the Jury, all of the competition entries were unique in an interesting way and had managed to prevent crime with very divergent methods. This year, a total of 13 crime prevention projects and a record number of countries took part in the competition since its launch ten years ago.

Further information: Hannu Takala, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Crime Prevention, tel. +358 50 364 3870Jukka-Pekka Takala, Senior Planning Officer, tel. +358 50 574 3252