Anti-gang Initiative IV: A qualitative research of Danish crime prevention practitioners' perspective of Anti-gang Initiative IV

This study aims to explore the perceptions of Anti-gang Initiative IV of Danish practitioners working within crime prevention in different Danish municipalities. The anti-gang initiative was voted through in November 2023 and is the latest in a series of anti-gang initiatives aimed at reducing gangs and gang crime in Denmark. Through qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, this study captures the insight of practitioners, emphasizing the importance of their role in evaluation work, especially when translating policy intro practice. Despite already existing initiatives, practitioners expressed uncertainty about the effectiveness and implementation and stressed a need for more evidence-based research and practical evaluations. The findings of this study show gang crime as an intractable problem, where there is a need for crime prevention policies, such as Anti-gang Initiative IV, to be grounded in empirical evidence and more locally context- specific.