Posted on 07/27/2011 1:22:19 PM PDT by Immerito
The man allegedly behind Norway's devastating terror attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is now under arrest. And he should count himself lucky for—if entirely undeserving of—a penal system in that country that is among the cushiest in the world. There's no capital punishment, and the longest jail term allowed is 21 years (a caveat: if a prisoner is deemed to still be a threat, his sentence can be extended in five-year blocks indefinitely, though it's highly unlikely, according to Norwegian officials). In Norway, rehabilitation is the guiding principle, not punishment—a somewhat difficult notion to swallow given the gravity and callousness of his crimes.
Norway's newest jail may hold rapists and murderers, but Halden Prison—the country's second largest and most secure facility—looks more like a posh sleepaway camp. In fact, architects say they purposely tried to avoid an "institutional feel." When it opened in 2010, some news accounts called it the "most humane" prison in the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Personally I don’t care. Its Norway’s problem and the last thing I want is a say in how Norwegians deal with their own problems.
After all, I oppose global governance all the time.
not my chair, not my problem
Everyone who was wondering why he didn’t kill himself now have their answer...
Chuck Colson had these comments on Norway’s prisons and the fact Christianity for the most part does not exist in Norway—
The Terror of Evil and Sin
The Tragedy in Norway
July 26, 2011
Norway is one of the most beautiful places on earth. A Nordic paradise of fjords, coastline, glaciers, forests. Norwegians are rightfully proud of their prosperous, peaceful society.
Well, today, Norway is in a state of absolute, total shock in the aftermath of one of the most cold-blooded, heartless acts of terrorism since 9/11. The Norwegians are desperately trying to explain this senseless slaughter. The killer has been described as a right-wing extremist, a fundamentalist Christian, an anti-immigrant fanatic, and mentally ill. Most likely, in my opinion, a fascist.
But here are two root causes of this horrible act that few in Norway, or the rest of the Western world for that matter, will acknowledge: Evil and sin.
You see, Norway is one of the most secular countries in Western Europe. Hardly a shred left of the Christian faith that once dominated the country.
So, without that Christian understanding of fallen human nature, the people of Norway are left in mourning, but without an explanation for the horror that has befallen them.
I can’t help but think of a visit I made to a maximum-security prison outside of Oslo back in the 1980s. I tell this story in my book How Now Shall We Live? I was greeted by the warden, who was a psychiatrist. She gave me a tour of the place, which seemed more like a laboratory than a prison. We met so many other psychiatrists that I asked the warden how many of the inmates here were mental cases.
She replied, “All of them, of course.”
I was stunned. Really? “Well,” she said, “anyone who commits a violent crime is obviously mentally unbalanced.”
This was the ultimate expression of the therapeutic model. People, the reasoning goes, are basically good, so anyone who could do something so terrible as this must be mentally ill. And the solution is therapy. It is a tragically flawed and inaccurate view of human nature. And, as I learned just a few days later, a very dangerous one.
During that visit I preached the Gospel to the prisoners. They were completely numb to the message. But as I was leaving, a young correctional officer, a Christian, came up to me. She said she had prayed for someone to confront the prisoners with the message of sin and salvation. She was frustrated by the corrections system in Norway, where there was no concept of personal responsibility, and therefore no reason for prisoners to seek personal transformation.
Only days later, I learned the tragic news: The young officer I had met was assigned to escort an inmate out to see a movie as part of his therapy. On the way back to prison, he murdered her.
The point is this: when we attempt to explain away moral evil, we will fail to constrain it. We cannot account for human behavior without recognizing that we are fallen creatures prone to sin.
As a sad footnote to the Oslo tragedy, the maximum sentence a criminal can receive in Norway is 21 years. Thus, barring some extraordinary event, the Oslo terrorist will back on the streets in 2032. An Oslo police spokesperson put it this way: “What the world needs to understand about Norway, is that this incident represents our loss of innocence, because we’ve been a very safe country to live in until now.” She then added: “There’s been no reason to keep people in prison for life.”
But there has been and always will be. It’s called sin.
It is clear the shooter planned every detail carefully. I wonder if he would have done this if the prisons in Norway were hellholes?
I wonder if Breivik might be the exception.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.