It became illegal to hit children in 1997 when corporal punishment was abolished, but many children continue to experience violence.

One in six students responded in a survey that they had been exposed to either physical or psychological violence at home within the past year.

This is shown by a new analysis conducted by Børns Vilkår.

The study is based on questionnaire responses from 1410 students in 8th grade around the country.

Here, 16 percent of the children respond that they have been exposed to physical violence from a parent, stepparent or foster parent. 17 percent respond that they have been exposed to psychological violence.

37 percent of students who respond that they have been subjected to violence respond that they have not told anyone about it.

According to Rasmus Kjeldahl, director of Børns Vilkår, it may be that the children fear the consequences if they say it out loud.

“It may be shameful and may be that they are afraid of the consequences for the family. They may ask questions like: ‘Does this mean that mom and dad will go to prison, and will I be punished for it?'”

Several of the students in the study even responded that they have failed to share it because they do not think it is necessary, that they want to forget the violence, or that it is too difficult to talk about.

Rasmus Kjeldahl believes that the high numbers are worrying, but he also points out that the numbers have decreased since the last analysis from 2022.

At that time, 22 percent responded that they had been subjected to physical violence, while 23 percent responded that they had experienced psychological violence.

“I see the decrease in numbers as a consequence of the increased focus that has been on the area in recent years, but there is still a long way to go,” says Rasmus Kjeldahl.

“The number is too high compared to what it should be in such a developed society as Denmark, where it has been illegal to hit children for more than 25 years.”

Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard (S) believes that it is a huge problem in Danish society.

“We don’t talk about it enough, and we must be honest and admit that we haven’t done enough about the problem,” he says.

Children’s Conditions recommends that children receive information about their rights at school, that professionals should have better skills to spot signs of problems, and that municipalities should make a greater, systematic effort.

Rasmus Kjeldahl says that Children’s Conditions has called on the government to come up with an action plan.

The Minister of Justice agrees that more needs to be done politically.

“It’s only been a few weeks since I announced that we had now allocated a double-digit million amount to improve the detection of violence by expanding forensic examinations.”

“In addition, in the new penal reform, we have set out to toughen the punishment for violence against children,” says Peter Hummelgaard.

The minister adds that there will soon be more initiatives to address the large scale of violence against children in Denmark.

ritzau