Coveted DFF grant awarded for new project on the impact of colonial history on Danish legal policy
Professor Linda Kjær Minke from the University of Southern Denmark and Professor Peter Scharff Smith from the University of Oslo will collaborate on a research project examining how colonial history has shaped Danish legal and criminal justice policy.
The Independent Research Fund Denmark has recently awarded its annual grants to ambitious and innovative research projects under the DFF-Research Project 2 instrument. Among the recipients are Professor Linda Kjær Minke from the Department of Law at the University of Southern Denmark and Professor Peter Scharff Smith from the University of Oslo.
With a grant of DKK 6.3 million, the researchers will jointly investigate the significance of colonial history for Danish legal policy, shedding light on how punishment is shaped by both global historical contexts and contemporary political agendas.
- The project allows us to critically rethink Danish notions of punishment and crime control. By examining our legal history from a colonial perspective, we can gain a nuanced understanding of our views on punishment, both past and present, says Linda Kjær Minke.
A missing Danish perspective
In recent years, international research has highlighted the significance of colonial history for Western crime control and sentencing practices. However, this perspective has not yet been examined in a Danish context.
Nordic sentencing practices are often regarded as particularly humane and rational, and even as models for other countries. It is therefore crucial to gain a better understanding of our own past and how our colonial legacy has influenced Danish practices and shaped sentencing and crime control in Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the former Danish West Indies.
The PunCol project will focus on this on by combining criminology, sociology of law and postcolonial studies.
Collaboration with a professor at the University of Oslo
DFF Research Project 2 grants typically fund research projects between several researchers over a period of 4,5 years.
During the project period, Professor Peter Scharff Smith from the University of Oslo will be affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark alongside his position in Oslo.
The title of the project is Metropole and Colony – A Post-Colonial Analysis of Danish Punishment and Crime Control (PunCol).
Meet the researcher
Linda Kjær Minke is a professor at the Department of Law at the University of Southern Denmark. An expert in Danish criminal law, she conducts research focusing on prison conditions.
Meet the researcher
Peter Scharff Smith is a professor at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo. He is the initiator of the project.
Facts about the allocation of Research Project 2 grants
- The Independent Research Fund Denmark has awarded DKK 296 million to 48 new research projects. This corresponds to an overall success rate of 7% based on the number of applications. In total, the Fund received 692 applications.
- The grants have been distributed across the Fund’s five disciplinary councils and the cross-council committee, which consists of the council chairs.
Read more about this year's grants (Danish only).