A homicide trial in Denmark leaves a nation questioning what constitutes a hate crime

How does the regulation measure what motivates somebody to commit against the law? This query has been on the centre of a high-profile homicide trial that has simply concluded on the Danish island of Bornholm. The case has divided public opinion throughout Denmark, and past.

Within the early hours of June 23 2020, brothers Mads and Magnus Møller drove into the woods with their pal Phillip Mbuji Johansen. The latter thought they have been going out for a night consuming. And, certainly, on the best way to the woods, the group stopped to purchase beer and vodka – paid for by Johansen. However the brothers meant to “tough Phillip up a bit” as payback for what they characterised as a sexual assault towards their mom.

After an hour of consuming and chatting by the hearth that they had lit, the brothers started their assault. It was a litany of horror that took the prosecutor practically an hour to explain in courtroom. Each legs damaged, fingers damaged, nostril damaged, testicles crushed, branded with a sizzling iron on ears, face and torso, overwhelmed, kicked and stomped throughout his physique, Johansen died a number of hours later, after asphyxiating on his personal blood.

Johansen’s physique was discovered within the morning, and the brothers instantly confessed however insisted they by no means meant to kill him.

What makes a hate crime?

From the beginning of this case, a debate started over what position race performed within the crime. Johansen was black, the son of a Tanzanian mom and Danish father. The 2 brothers are white. Mads Møller, the eldest brother, has swastika and white energy tatoos.

Magnus Møller informed police when he was arrested that he held Johansen down by placing a knee on his neck (the homicide occurred just one month after George Floyd’s homicide, on the peak of Black Lives Matter protests around the globe). In Danish regulation, if a demise is characterised as a hate crime, tied to racial animus, it will carry the potential of an elevated jail sentence.

The police and prosecutor on Bornholm shortly eliminated this from the equation although. They seem to have believed that as a result of there was a private motive within the killing, it couldn’t even be a hate crime.

“As we see it, it’s a fully completely different motive than pores and skin color. It’s a private relationship,” the top prosecutor concluded, a number of days after the homicide. “Nothing factors to racism”, the second answerable for the Bornholm police mentioned, the identical day. The prosecution’s solely character witness confirmed this strategy at trial, when she testified that Mads Møller wasn’t racist as a result of she “by no means noticed him do something racist” and since he was “mates with [Johansen] and different non white folks”. Concerning his tatoos, she opined that they have been meant “to impress”.

Progressive politicians condemned this slender studying of racial animus. Black Lives Matter Denmark organised protests, calling the homicide on Bornholm a “lynching”. Many referred to as for an investigation into what position structural racism may need performed within the case, and famous that hate crimes are considerably beneath prosecuted in Denmark.

Research of bias reveal that folks voice extra conservative opinions when holding a chilly beverage of their palms, that judges give greater sentences within the interval proper earlier than lunch as a result of they’re hungry, and that threatening somebody’s vanity will increase their prejudice in the direction of minorities. In different phrases, bias research affirm the existence of huge, complicated prejudices which we don’t consciously recognise or management.

One of these “implicit bias” would possibly clarify many sides of the case that have been left unaddressed. For instance, the non-public motive named by the prosecutor was Johansen’s alleged behaviour in the direction of the brothers’ mom.

Lengthy-established racist tropes concerning the hazard that black males pose to white ladies would possibly assist clarify how the brothers noticed Johansen’s alleged behaviour as “assualt” and “rape” – allegations which have been broadly reported within the Danish press however stay solely unsubstantiated – in addition to why Danish authorities believed this rationale when provided. Implicit bias additionally would possibly assist clarify the brothers’ resolution to handle a battle with their pal by violence, in addition to clarify how that violence spiralled so brutally and tragically uncontrolled.

Intent and the responsible thoughts

As a result of the brothers confessed to the crime, the query earlier than the courtroom was learn how to categorise Johansen’s demise. This query hinged on the defendants’ states of thoughts – their intent. The prosecution charged the defendants with homicide, arguing they knew Johansen might die from their assault. The defendants, however, argued they have been responsible of manslaughter as a result of they didn’t intend for him to die. In the end a courtroom of three judges and 6 jurors unanimously discovered the Møller brothers responsible of homicide, and sentenced them to 14 years in jail.

Because the prosecutor talked about many instances through the trial, it’s not potential to look inside a defendant’s head and know what they meant. Courts should assess intent by actions. However had the police investigation thought of the chance that the crime was aggravated by racial animus, these prices could be a part of the courtroom document. Even had the prosecution didn’t show racial animus, a dialogue of the information would have expanded and enriched the courtroom document. The dialogue might have been very completely different.

Danish courts settle for the fiction that they’ll know a defendant’s responsible thoughts by his acts concerning felony intent. But as regards racial animus, Danish authorities have confirmed typically unwilling to permit information and actions to result in judicial conclusions. Hate crimes are recognised beneath Danish regulation. However to ensure that them to be prosecuted and thereby punished and deterred, Danish authorities want to start out contemplating how bias and racism are communicated by motion.