In a recent case in Sogn og Fjordane District Court, the controversial District Court Judge Ida Kristin Bøen from Førde sentenced a man with a foreign name to lose his driving license for 8 months for driving at 131 km/h in an 80 km/h zone.
Barely a month has passed since the state news agency, in collaboration with Lighthouse Reports, prepared a report concluding that the courts in Norway discriminate.
In the case of the man with the foreign name, where Bøen was the judge, he had driven at 131 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. The man was also a carpenter. In addition to losing his driving license for 8 months, he received 30 days of community service with an execution period of 120 days.
District Court Judge Ida Kristin Bøen ordered the man to take a new driving test – the practical part – despite knowing that the courts should not practice differential treatment.
Grafen has previously written about police officer Erik Theodor Torgersen (28) who was convicted of driving at 131 km/h. The District Court sentenced the police officer to 30 hours of community service and loss of his driving license for 6 months – without the requirement for a new driving test.
These are two completely identical cases with different results. One is a carpenter with a foreign name, and the other is a police officer.
Class Justice and Preferential Treatment
Grafen has reported several times on criminal cases concerning police employees and the preferential treatment they receive in the courts.
One of these is Karl Martin Aas Østby (33) who, in June 2020, drove off a road embankment in Stad municipality while intoxicated – he also had two female colleagues with him in the car whom he had been partying with.
Apart from the long time it took before the case reached the courts, the police officer was sentenced to 21 days in prison and a fine of NOK 35,000. The prosecutor’s proposed fine was twice as large, but the District Court halved it because «the financial situation» was uncertain as the police officer lost his job as a result of the drunk driving.
A retired chief of police who drove while intoxicated received the same treatment – his sentence was reduced due to a tax arrears claim.
However, this legal practice does not apply to ordinary people who are convicted of drunk driving – they receive larger fines and longer prison sentences.