Nationa! Library B!blroth&quenat~onale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and D~rectiondes acquis~tions~t Blbiiographic Services Branch des services b~bi~ograph~c:s 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Well~ngton Onawa. Ontarto Ottawa (Oniar~o) KIA ON4 KiAOid4 \,><,,t.:<. b,y,f, p,:.st., ,,,. NOTICE The quality of this microform is La qualit6 de cette microforme heavily dependent upon the depend grandernent de la qualit6 quality of the original thesis de la tk&se ssumise aw submitted for microfilming. microfilmage. Nous avons tout Every effort has been made to fait pour assurer une qualit6 ensure the highest quality of superieure de reproduction. reproduction possible. If pages are missing, contact the S'il manque des pages, veuillez university which granted the cornmuniquer avec I'universite degree. qui a confer6 le grade. Some pages may have indistinct La qualite d'impression de print especially if the original certaines pages peut laisser a pages were typed with a poor desirer, surtout si les pages typewriter ribbon or if the originales snt 6te university sent us an inferior dactylographibes A I'aide d'un photocopy. ruban us6 ou si I'universite nsus a fait parvenir une photocopie de qualite infbrieure. Reproduction in full or in part of La reproduction, mgrr 2 partielle, this microform is governed by de cette microforme esP soumise the Canadian Copyright Act, la Loi canadienne sur le droit R.S.C. 1970, c. C-30, and d'auteur, SRC 1970, c. C-30,et subsequent amendments. ses amendements subsequents. CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN GREENLAND Henrik G. Jensen LL.M. (Law) University of Copenhagen, Denmark 1986 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (CRIMINOLOGY in the School @ Henrik G. Jensen SIMON FRPSER UNIVERSITY June, 1992 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by lo to copy or other means, without permission of the author. National Library Bibiiotheque nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Directio? des acquisitions et Blbliisgraphic Services Branch des sewices bibliqraphiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa. Ontario Onma (Ontario) KIA ON4 KIA ON4 The author has granted an L'auteur a aecorde une licence irrevocable non-exclusive licence irr6vocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant a la Bibliotheque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell copies of reproduire, preter, distribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa these in any form or format, making de quelque rnanihra et sous this thesis available to interested quelque forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes inthressees. The author retains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propriete du the copyright in his/her thesis. droit d'auteur qui protege sa Neither the thesis nor substantial these. Ni la thhse ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent Btre imprimes ou his/her permission. autrernent reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-315-91118-2 Name : Henrik G. Jensen Degree : Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Criminal Justice in Greenland Examining Committee: Chairperson: Job Loman, Ph.D. &&t~xif Lths,- Ph. D. Professor 9 Senior Supervisor Cplin-v yerb;ry, Associate Prof -, , -- - v Margaret h. ~ackson! Ph.D. Associate Professor Georg Hoyer, M.D. External Examiner Visiting Professor School of Criminology, S.F.U. / Date Approved: /o! /99d -. I :erePy crz?? to s 1~2n??-6ser 30;ver~ jty tf,e r ipht to ier,~ my thesis, pro-\ec? or exfence3 SSSZY '.The ti~ieof .dC.icb i5 she&n !-,claw) to users of the Simon Fra~sr5niversity Litrar:,, and 79 make partial or single ccpies oniy far sucn LCers or in response tc 2 reqbest fr2m the l i Srary of any o?$er univzrsi ty, or ct5er educat io~al iris? i tut ion, 01) its own bei1ali or for me ai its users. I further agree th?: p?rrn'ssic.~ for muitiple copyir,~of ??:is wcr4 fcr schalarly purposes nay be granted by me or the sea^ G! Gradua?? S'~dies. It is understood th3t copying or 2ublication of this work re- iinancizi gdin shall not 32 allowed rr,y wr i tte~permission. Henrik G. Jensen ; r,E;nle / Abstract Few people around the world are familiar with Greenland's criminal justice system. Very little has been written about it in either English or Danish, and the present effort represents the first detailed work on the subject. The thesis begins with a short description of Greenland's history. This is followed by an examination of the administration of justice and the criminal code and how it is applied in Greenland today. In the last few years, the criminal code has been criticized for "being too lenient," and with examples from the court practice the thesis illustrates the sources of this critique. The thesis describes Greenland's special "prisonw system, the amount of crime and crime patterns, and discusses the causes of crime in Greenland. It also analyses the formal cooperation among schools, social services, police and prison services in their attempts to facilitate crime prevention. Aboriginaf. spokespersons in North America have pointed out that the model for the administration of justice in Greenland provides an alternative model to the justice system used in America and Canada. iii However, a close examination of th2 operation of the criminal justice system under the Criminal Code suggests that Greenland's criminal policy is as much influenced by existing measures and economic resources as by cultural factors. To my mother, Gudrun Jensen, and to the memory of my father, Villy Jensen. Table of Contents Page Approval ......................................... ii Abstract ........................................ iii Dedication .......................................... .v Table of Contents ...................................... vi Map of Greenland ...................................... viii Chapter 1 . Inuit peoples and the law ................. 1 Chapter 2 . Greenland's historical development ........ 5 Chapter 3 . The administration of justice ........... 10 A, Historical overview of justice administration ........................... 10 Current structure of the criminal justice system ................................... 19 1. Courts ................................19 2 . Police force ..........................27 3 . Corrections ...........................28 4. Parole ................................ 35 5 . Crime prevention ......................38 6. The Interprofessional Cooperation Committee ............................. 45 7 . The value of the crime prevention program in Greenland ..................51 Chapter 4. The development of the Crininal Code .....53 A . Juridical Expedition .....................53 B . Criminal Code of 1954 ....................56 Chapter 5. Law and justice in contemporary Greenland.62 A . Attributes of Greenlandic crime and disorder ................................ 62 P . Alcohol and crime .....................65 2 . Population ............................ 78 3 . Psychiatry and crime ..................71 4 . Stigmatization ....................... .79 Application of the criminal law ..........83 1 . Examples from practice ................83 2 . Sentencing to Denmark .................88 3 . The concept of responsibility for one's actions in the Greenland Criminal Code ..................................90 Chapter 6 . Reconsidering law and justice in Greenland ................................ 93 1 . The future of the justice system in Greenland ............................. 93 2 . Implications of the analysis of the Criminal Code ........................97 3 . Implications of the analysis of the system ...............................106 Summary .............................................. 110 Appendix . Interview with His Honour the Magistrate's Court Judge Abraham Svendsen ...............117 vii 3 VEST I -'I-') GR0NLAN D UMANAQ (Greenland. Provinces and ?<uniciplFties) viii CIIAPTER a INUIT PEOPLES AND THE LAW Recent years have witnessed an increasing concern among indigenous peoples about their extensive involvement in "Le criminal justice system and the conflict with the traditional systems of social control and codified western-style legal systems. Increased concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of adversarial systems of criminal justice, particularly in those countries where these systems have been "imposedH on cultures which traditionally utilized mediation, negotiation and other forms of dispute resolution. A worldwide resurgence of interest in traditional, community-based justice structures has occurred including village courts and the involvement of elders in responding to problems of crime and delinquency. The present discussion provides an examination of the application of the law to the Inuit living in Canada and Greenland. The earliest written accounts of the lifestyle of Inuit at the time of contact with Europeans were those of various explorers, missionaries and traders. Such accounts were often as discontinuous as the patterns of contact from which they originated. Their historical value is limited, due to their inaccurate, uninformed or prejudiced materials. 1) Allott and Woodman, People's law and state law: The Bellagio papers, 1985, Bohannan, The differi~g realms of the law, American Anthropologist, Vol. 67-6 1965, Hoebel, The law of primitive man, 1954. 2) Griffiths and Yerbury, Conflict and Compromise: Canadian Indigenous Peoples and the Law, in: H.W. Finkler, Proceedings