Norwegian prosecutors today did something that U.S. prosecutors appear incapable of doing in high-visibility case — admit that a defendant is legally insane. Prosecutors in the case of confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik’s trial told the court that he should be committed to compulsory psychiatric care instead of prison. They stated that their were too many doubts about his sanity when the 33-year-old Norwegian killed 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage on July 22.
In the U.S., prosecutors often challenge any insanity plea regardless of its obvious strength — ignoring their obligation to seek justice as opposed to the maximum level of punishment or sentencing.
Breivik is a self-described anti-Muslim militant and has shown bizarre behavior throughout the trial. He claims Norway and Europe are being colonized by Muslims. I have little doubt that prosecutors in U.S. would have pushed for sanity and the death penalty in such a case — helped by an insanity standard in the United States that ignores generally recognized definitions of mental illness. Under that standard, prosecutors would simply argue that he could still tell the difference between right and wrong and seek the death penalty.
Norway clearly draws the line with greater care and its prosecutors are willing to face public backlash to do what they believe is justice in such cases. While they may also believe that he could be held longer in an asylum, it is clear that the Norwegian legal school applies a more scrutinizing process for such claims.
Source: BBC
idealist707 1, June 22, 2012 at 11:20 am
mk,
They sure are. Have no sympathy.
We can spend the time to make him sane and help him feel the pain he has caused. Or do we use the docs on those who deserve it. Better I think.
Personally, I’d put him in solitary with no communication privileges and let him rot. No papers, no radios, no TV, no net, just “approved” books. No writing paper, no writing utensils. Nothing. Just a blank wall, and a door opened electrically to let him get his 45 minute walk in a small cage with only the sky to view. Refuses to return? Shoot him like a rhino and bring him back in drugged.
Let’s see how he looks after 10 years.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh
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Agreed. Bullying is part of life if that’s what the problem was. Deal with it.
Was McVeigh’s punishment more merciful in the final analysis? He was unapologetic to the end.
I honestly don’t believe he is insane at all.
(this post is filled with decalations that are obviously my opinion based on my study of the Anders case and trial. This literary form is the most appropriate for the post here…its not convenient to disclaim everything below, so I am doing it once here)
People tend to have this predictable kneejerk reaction that anyone who doesn’t believe as they do or is so far off of “their reservation” that “they must be crazy’. So anyone who takes for granted that multi-culturalism/pro-immigration is normal/right/good to an endless degree will naturally think that anyone who is diametrically opposed to that “must be insane” and especially if they care so much about it they are willing to kill to make an impact edgewise and have their ideas heard
however, the reality is that Anders is enamored with the preservation of a specific culture/ethnicity that he see’s as under attack in particular by the muslim world strategically through saturation immigration and intentionally excessive procreation by those immigrants. He knows he can’t stop islam/foreigners at it’s/their root from homogenizing his country genetically/culturally and europe as a whole into islam over time, but he believes that he can impact the political wing of native norwegians that are actually allowing this to occur on the other side through multi-cuturalist/immigration policies with no backstops…he sees them as just as liable as the “foreign invaders” themselves. He wants them to raise the drawbridge so to speak and have the culture at least in Norway become insulated again (as South Korea has always done and still does for example) in order to allow norwegian culture to persevere for hundreds of more years, but ultimately he wants that for each mono-culture in europe. Bottom line he does NOT want ANY european country to become an islamic state like iran, saudi arabia with sharia law, etc.
So he goes and attacks the closest thing to nervecenter/foundations of this political group, and his view is long…not just those in office today, but those who may be in office 20-40 years from now which is why he went to the youth camp at Utoya island. He knows he can’t kill them all and he doesn’t really want to, he wants to change their minds by way of fear and he hopes that he can at least scare the policies out of them or make them think twice about their political positions about allowing saturation immigration. Of course thats not likely, but still just because he was so desperate and so committed to his own native ethnic preservation that he chose to kill as he saw no other way to make an impact doesn’t make him insane in the literal sense. This is clearly the most important thing to him and it defines him at this point and most sane people are willing to die and even kill for that which is the MOST important thing to them whatever that may be.
The reason that the prosecutors are pushing for an insanity declaration is because its the greatest way to marginalize and utterly discredit his political/cultural beliefs. It makes sense strategically for the prosecution to do this even if they deep down believe he is fully sane..if they just want to insulate and protect the current policies of immigration and multi-culturalism. If he is declared sane, then all of a sudden, in spite of his murderous tactics, his ideas will be analyzed and studied to some degree and he could gain a larger following. It reminds me of a religious martyr maxim…the blood of the saints is the seed of the church. Same principle applies to political movements, but call him a nutjob and there won’t be even a moments consideration of his ideas once his trial blows over as he willl be discredited
mk,
They sure are. Have no sympathy.
We can spend the time to make him sane and help him feel the pain he has caused. Or do we use the docs on those who deserve it. Better I think.
Personally, I’d put him in solitary with no communication privileges and let him rot. No papers, no radios, no TV, no net, just “approved” books. No writing paper, no writing utensils. Nothing. Just a blank wall, and a door opened electrically to let him get his 45 minute walk in a small cage with only the sky to view. Refuses to return? Shoot him like a rhino and bring him back in drugged.
Let’s see how he looks after 10 years.