Louise Victoria Johansen

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Current research

ANIMALAW - An interdisciplinary study of Danish animal welfare offences in animal transport

Together with my colleague, Professor Mette S. Herskin (AU), as well as colleagues from University of Copenhagen, I will investigate how broader societal conceptualizations of human- animal relations interact with specific veterinary knowledge when animal welfare cases are decided upon in Danish courtrooms. The research aims to provide a unique insight into the interdependencies of legislation, animal welfare and biological expertise, as well as to create a unique interdisciplinary research network between legal, social and natural sciences.

An interdisciplinary grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark enables the research project.

Primary fields of research

I work within the area of Law and Anthropology and am theoretically inspired by the field of sociology of knowledge, personhood, and the role of emotion in law. My research focuses on knowledge processes across different criminal jutsice institutions such as the police, the prosecutor's office, the judiciary, and the prison and probation service. Using ethnografic methods in these settings, I have studied how pre-sentence reports construct defendants as persons; lay adjudication and lay participation; victims' perceptions of the criminal justice process; and remand prisoners' expectations of a 'fair trial'.