Today’s news / Ex-Supreme Court chief critiques detentions
Thomas Rørdam was the president of the Supreme Court until November 2022. Previously, he was a defender, and he has also held the post as a prosecutor. On Monday, he gave a presentation at a conference on pre-trial detention. (Archive photo) Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Ex-Supreme Court chief critiques detentions

Thomas Rørdam, ex-president of the Danish Supreme Court, highlighted issues with some pre-trial detentions, noting that legal conditions were not always met. Speaking at a Christiansborg conference organized by Forsete and the Danish Association of Criminalists, Rørdam used terms like ‘failure’ and ‘carelessness’ to describe some detentions reviewed by the Supreme Court since 2011. Mikael Sjöberg acknowledged judges face high workloads, which impede thorough analysis, leading to potential overuse of detention. Rørdam criticized this precautionary detainment approach. Defense attorney Mette Lorentzen called for a culture shift in the judiciary and highlighted cases where pre-trial detainees were later acquitted. With 211 wrongful detentions last year out of 3361, the phenomenon of longer-term detentions is growing. In response to penal reforms aiming for strict punishment of violent crimes, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard suggested reevaluating the application of pre-trial detention.