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My kind of drunk driving sentence ... in Norway

By Douglas A. Berman

I was intrigued and pleased to see this press report, headlined "Big fine follows short drive," discussing a noteworthy drunk driving sentence handed down recently in Norway: A Norwegian businessman was ordered on Tuesday to pay a fine of 700,000 kroner for driving 400m while drunk, a court said.  Due to the man's wealth, the court in the southern Norwegian county of Aust-Agder handed down a heavier-than-usual sentence, which would normally be equivalent to a month-and-a-half's gross salary for the accused. "The principle of proportionality implies that we should take into account the entire wealth of the person in cases where the defendant is more well off than most other people," a copy of the verdict obtained by AFP read. The 49-year-old man is the heir of a rich shipping family...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).