Sly Of The Underworld says the “tough on crime” approach is a proven failure and it’ll fail again in Victoria.

With Ross and John in Copenhagen, Sly decided to take a look at how Victoria’s crime rate compared with Denmark, given the similar populations.

There are 6.2 million in Victoria, with 5.7 million people living in Denmark.

Some of the things Sly found…

• 3400 people are in prison in Denmark (7600 people are in prison in Victoria).
• The re-offending rate for prisoners in Denmark once they’re released is 27 per cent (it’s 44 per cent in Victoria).
• Just 14 (yes, 14) children and teens are in juvenile detention in Denmark. There are more than 500 in Victoria.
• There are four times as many women in prison in Victoria than there is in Denmark.

Are the Danes simply better people than us? Sly doesn’t think so.

He pointed out the differences in what the Danish justice system aimed to achieve.

“Prisoners wear their own clothes, cook their own meals and aren’t routinely strip searched,” Sly said on 3AW Breakfast.

“The aim is to get the people back into the system.

“Are we going to learn from that? Of course not.

“We’re going down the “get tough” policies path – all politicians are doing that.

“It’s a proven vote-winner, but it’s also a proven failure.

“No politician would have the guts to say let’s have a look at Denmark.

“Why would they? It’s clear there’s a great thirst from the public for this “get tough” approach, but it will fail.

“We’re going down the path of the American model and it will fail. History has shown that.”

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