A plan to double the penalties for offences committed in deprived “ghetto” neighbourhoods of Danish cities provoked outrage among human rights activists on Tuesday.

The centre-Right government is expected to unveil more details of its plan to impose more severe punishments in deprived areas, which have high immigrant populations, where it says lawlessness risks creating “parallel societies”, on Thursday.

Søren Pape Poulsen, the justice minister, told the Berlingske newspaper: “In these areas, it is clear that the sword of justice will fall more heavily” than elsewhere. Muggers and vandals in such neighbourhoods are likely to see their sentences or fines doubled, he said.

The government publishes a list of “ghetto areas”, defined as deprived neighbourhoods with populations of more than 1,000. The latest list, which came out in December, includes 22 districts.

The latest proposal is part of a government drive to eliminate ghettos by 2030, prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

Police chiefs in these areas would be given discretionary powers to enforce “double punishment”, Danish media reported.

Denmark’s crime rate is about half that of Britain.

The plan is likely to be backed by the second largest party, the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which also supports a government proposal to ban the Islamic full-face veil.