The case in summary news has scrutinized more than half of all judgments from Norwegian district courts in the past two years where ordinary people have taken part in judging – a total of 9,000 judgments. The investigation shows that fellow judges will more often acquit or give a lower sentence than the professional judge. In almost 7 percent of the trials, co-judges and professional judges disagree about guilt and punishment. In 79 percent of these cases, the co-judges are in favor of a lighter sentence. Dissent between co-judges and professional judges is not registered in the court systems, which makes it difficult to get a full overview of the level of punishment that comes from co-judges. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. It is 9 October 2021. A car has just driven off the road in the Sunnmørs village of Sykkylven. The car rolls seven times before it stops. Linni Celine Krieg and her son Theodor (4) sit inside. They had been playing by a water and were on their way home to their family. Krieg had kept below the speed limit and to the right of the road. Previously, she had experienced several times meeting cars at high speed on the narrow road. Before the accident, Theodor had been in a good mood and wanted to talk to mum and show her what he had in his hands. Krieg occasionally cast quick glances in the mirror. But she made sure to direct her gaze forward again as quickly as possible. Photo: Remi Sagen / news After one look in the mirror, she noticed that one wheel ended up outside the road. – Oh! That was all she managed to say before the car was thrown around and rolled across the grass. But inside she managed to think a little more: “Now we die.” Judged by peers Every year, thousands of Norwegians appear in a courtroom after traffic accidents, episodes of violence or other incidents. There, three judges often decide on guilt and punishment. Two of them are completely ordinary people without legal training who have volunteered. They are called co-judges and are present because of an old principle that we should be “judged by equals”. news has scrutinized more than half of all judgments from Norwegian district courts in the past two years where ordinary people have taken part in judging – a total of 9,000 judgments. The investigation shows that the fellow judges will more often acquit or give a lower sentence than the professional judge. Linni Celine Krieg from Ålesund got to experience that. Felt like a bad mother The car finally landed on its wheels – 25 meters from where they drove out. Krieg was in shock, but had only one thought in his mind: “Theodor!” she yelled. This is what the car looked like after the accident. Photo: Privat Fortunately, the four-year-old answered. Krieg got out of the smoking car, tore open the back door and got his son out. Police and an ambulance soon arrived at the scene. Krieg felt that the police were understanding and said something like “accidents can happen”. But Theodor had suffered a mild concussion and had to be monitored for a day in hospital. – Even though I knew I hadn’t done anything illegal, I felt like a very bad mother, she says to news. Then came another shock. The fine in the mail The four-year-old received a letter from the police stating that his mother had been reported for not having been “sufficiently alert and careful”. A little later, she received a fine of NOK 8,000. Krieg understood it this way: The police thought she should be punished because her son had been in mortal danger. – Then I was put out a bit, she says. Krieg refused to accept the fine. For her, that would be the same as admitting that she had done something illegal. One year after the accident, she therefore had to appear in court. Linni Celine Krieg would not accept that she had done anything illegal. Photo: Remi Sagen / news She did not bring a lawyer with her, because she did not think of that. She also did not know that two of the three judges who sat in front of her had completely normal everyday occupations: A skilled worker at a secondary school and a general manager in an IT company. And that it was going to save her. Volunteer judges Even if two out of three judges in a court case do not have legal training, they still have the power to cross-examine the professional judge. news’s examination of 9,000 judgments in which ordinary people have taken part in judging shows that fellow judges and professional judges largely agree on both guilt and punishment. But in almost 7 percent of the court cases, they disagree so much that they split into a majority and a minority. It’s called dissent. And here there is a clear pattern: Of the 717 co-judges who have disagreed with the professional judges, the vast majority were in favor of a milder punishment. Law professor Maria Astrup Hjort at the University of Oslo believes this is an important signal to professional judges in Norwegian courts. – If the fellow judges have a tendency to hand out milder sentences, perhaps the professional judges should reflect on their practice, she says. Dissent is not registered The problem is that dissent is not registered in the courts’ systems. Thus, no one has a full overview of the signals about the level of punishment that come from the fellow judges. Such a registration could provide great value, Hjort believes. Law professor Maria Astrup Hjort at UiO believes that the function of the co-judge scheme is to be a corrective to the professional judges. Photo: University of Oslo – For the system to work, there must also be a response to the politicians so they can assess whether the penalties are at the right level, she says. Last year, the Welfare Research Institute NOVA wrote a report showing that Norwegians are generally less concerned with punishing criminals severely than they were ten years ago. The fact that news’s survey also shows that “ordinary people” often choose the mild option when they take their seats as judges in the courtroom should be important signals to the politicians who decide the laws. Experienced defense lawyer Frode Sulland believes so. – You absolutely have to be able to confront the politicians with these findings and say that the voters are not in step with this. There is every reason for the politicians to adjust their course accordingly, he says. This is a co-judge A co-judge is a person without legal training who participates as a judge in a court case on an equal footing with someone who is a trained judge. It is an important legal principle in Norway that one must be judged by one’s peers. To become a co-judge you must be between 21 and 70 years old, speak and understand Norwegian and be personally suitable for the task. The co-judges help to decide whether the defendant is guilty and what kind of punishment he or she should receive. The co-judges deal with all kinds of criminal cases, such as cases involving finances, sexual crimes, murder or traffic. – Punishment enough in itself Linni Celine Krieg experienced being heard by the fellow judges. She was at work as a mechanic at Tesla when she received the letter that the judgment against her was ready. She opened it and skimmed as fast as she could to the end: “Linni Celine Krieg (…) is acquitted.” Krieg had tears in his eyes. The judges had split into two. Linni Celine Krieg. Photo: Remi Sagen / news The expert judge believed that she should have been more careful when she knew she was driving on a bad road, and wanted to judge her. But both co-judges were on Krieg’s side. They believed that it was not negligent to cast a few quick glances in the mirror, as you do when you check the traffic behind you. They were also open to the fact that poor markings or road standards were the reason why Krieg had miscalculated the edge. – Afterwards, I am very happy that the two without legal education were present in the courtroom, says Krieg. She believes that professional judges who are involved in many court cases can sometimes forget that there are people standing before them. – They can perhaps start to go a bit on autopilot and only comply with the legislation. I think the fellow judges saw how much the collision had affected me, and that it was punishment enough in itself to have gone through this, says Krieg. – We were in agreement. news has been in contact with the two co-judges who ruled in the case. Harald Skorgevik is the general manager of an IT company and says that he does not find it difficult to think otherwise than the judge who has studied law for many years. – Me and the other co-judge were in agreement. The expert judge was also very understanding that we had other opinions, he says. The professional judge does not wish to comment on the case.
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When ordinary people are judges, the punishments are milder – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
