murder by request
Killing at the victim's own request — punishable under Danish Penal Code § 239.
Murder by request is, in Danish criminal law, the act of killing another person at that person's definite request — that is, on the basis of a clear and unambiguous appeal from the victim to be killed. The decisive element is that the initiative and the wish to die come from the victim, not from the perpetrator. This distinction separates the offence fundamentally from ordinary manslaughter, where the victim gives no consent.
Under Danish law, murder by request is governed by the Danish Penal Code (straffeloven) § 239. The provision sets a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment, which is markedly lower than the sentencing range for intentional manslaughter under § 237, which extends to life imprisonment. The milder penalty reflects the legislature's assessment that the victim's consent constitutes a mitigating circumstance — although it does not make the act lawful.
It is important to emphasise that consent to being killed does not relieve the perpetrator of criminal liability. Danish law does not recognise the victim's consent as a ground for impunity in killings. Even where the deceased positively and unambiguously wished for their own death, the person who carries out the killing still commits a punishable act.
The concept is central to understanding cases such as the German cannibal case concerning Armin Meiwes, where the victim allegedly entered voluntarily into an agreement to be killed and eaten. Such cases raise questions of whether the consent was genuine, informed and given without coercion — factors that bear directly on which provision applies, and thus on the severity of the penalty.
