Dahoon

Just a note about life vs custody (forvaring) as there seems to be some confusion. I have read a bit about it but don't take it as gospel as I'm no lawyer and I'm not sure I got less confused by reading about it....

Life in prison in Denmark means "minimum 12 years before a chance of parole". The average time served is around 17 years as far as I can tell but there is no limit of how long you can be in prison.

Custody means courts have to look at the case after a maximum of 5 years and see if the person is fit for release. The custody sentence should also be as short as possible. Custody is not for people that are "criminally insane" that would be released after successful treatment but for people that is not insane but still believed to be a danger to others even after a normal prison sentence. Average length is 15 years. While serving time there are psychiatrists seeing the prisoner and other forms of therapy. While in custody you cannot get unaccompanied leave, cannot seek pardon and to get custody you have to have done gross bodily harm to another person, be deemed dangerous by psychiatrists and a prison should not be enough to keep others safe from you (I doubt PM will fit that last one). In other words one is a punishment for the deed - full stop. The other is both a punishment but also about keeping the prisoner in prison until deemed safe for release. That last bit is not included in a normal sentence at all.



As I understand the justice system the prosecutor asked for life because it is the longest on average and not because he believed PM isn't dangerous. Psychiatrists will decide that part and inform the judge (as they indeed did in this case).