Denmark's Courts and the Elusive Search for Uniform Sentences (From Comparative Criminal Justice: Traditional and Nontraditional Systems of Law and Control, P 253-269, 1996, Charles B Fields and Richter H Moore, Jr, eds. -- See NCJ-161138)

• NCJ Number: 161152
• Author(s): R Prine; M G Gertz
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines the extent of variability in sentencing patterns in Denmark's courts.

Abstract

Prior to reporting on study methodology and findings, the author describes the characteristics of the Danish court system, with attention to Denmark's legal history, its legal distinctiveness among Scandinavian countries, the court structure, legal training, the city courts, the legality versus the opportunity principle in prosecution, and the use of judicial discretion. The latter topic bears directly on the study's focus, i.e., variability in sentencing among Denmark's courts. This pilot study empirically tests the proposition that Danish criminal courts have implemented strategies that produce uniformity in sentencing across jurisdictions. This work is exploratory and is currently the only research to focus on Danish trial-level courts. One judge per jurisdiction participated in the study, and 100 criminal cases were selected from each judge's files, yielding a total of 300 cases. In contrast to the findings of Myers and Talarico (1986), the data show that the rural court sentences property offenders more severely than the urban courts. This was the only significant difference in sentencing practices that the study found among the three jurisdictions. Legally relevant variables alone accounted for up to 70 percent of the variance of sentence length. Suggestions for future research on this topic are offered. 2 tables and 75-item bibliography