sexual abuse

Sexual abuse is, under Danish law, a collective term for criminal sexual acts committed through violence, threats, exploitation of vulnerability, or without the consent of the victim — not a single, delimited statutory provision with one fixed definition. The concept covers a range of offences regulated in the chapter on sexual offences in the Danish Penal Code (straffeloven), in particular rape under § 216 as well as provisions on sexual abuse of children and young people, which prohibit intercourse and other sexual relations with persons below the age of sexual consent.

In practice, the expression is used in courtrooms, by public authorities and in public debate as an umbrella label that gathers acts of widely differing character: from contact offences and indecent exposure to systematic exploitation over time. The perpetrator often exploits a position of power, a relationship of trust, or the victim's inability to resist the assault.

In the cases and documentaries where the term appears most frequently — cases involving sects, well-known perpetrators and institutional abuse — the abuse is typically characterised by systematic conduct, secrecy and control. The victim is in a situation of dependency that makes resistance or reporting extremely difficult. The perpetrator's authority — religious, cultural or social — is actively used as a tool to enable and maintain the abuse.

Since 1 January 2021, the rape provision in § 216 has been based on consent: intercourse with a person who has not consented is rape, regardless of whether violence or threats were used. The penalty framework is imprisonment for up to 8 years. Sexual abuse of children is regulated separately and with stricter penalty frameworks, since a child cannot in legal terms give valid consent to sexual acts with adults. The age of sexual consent is 15 (§ 222), and § 223 protects young people under 18 who are a stepchild or foster child of the perpetrator, or entrusted to that person for teaching or upbringing.