21 years for 77 killed?

Sailor

Thank you for the clarification and I hope you are right.

David

I am like you not totally convinced about the death penalty. I have said before that I do not trust our legal system to get it right enough times to go for it. OTH with crimes like this there can be not a shadow of doubt that he did do it and my preference would be execution to save money and put an end to a useless piece of skin. Yea, I am a lefty Canuck. Unfortunately that is not an option in Norway and they have given the harshest sentence possible within their current legal system. You make do with what you have. I can't and won't fault Norway on the outcome.

Bob

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Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

I'm loving how the Americans are demanding his execution (snark).

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If he did this crime in Texas,they have what they call an "Express lane ". Why waste tax payer money keeping this maggot alive.

Rant warning! You have to realize that imprisonment means different things around the world. Here in the US, it just means imprisonment. In many other parts of the world it means rehabilitation. We can throw stones as much as we want, but in the end, we should respect how these countries are at least trying to rehabilitate their inmates. I wish that the US system did more in the way of rehab. As it is, the prison system here is just the proverbial revolving door with many who have been released finding their way back into the system. The money spent on housing inmates with life sentences and on death row could probably be spent better by educating the inmates and giving them the tools to function if and when they get out. End of rant.

Canada has been on the rehab kick for at least 40 odd years and I don't know if it is working or not. If I were cynical I would think it was a justification for the government to keep the prison population at a level that did not require more prison capacity. I would like to think it works but I also know that not all are rehab-able.

We are about to reverse course with the right wing government in power now bent on going the American plan by getting "tough" on crime and necessitating more prisons to accommodate the increasing influx of prisoners that will create. That route does not seemed to have worked all that well either from all reports.

Another tough problem with lots of questions and no pat easy answers to fall back on.

Bob

For the Christians amongst us, Romans 12:19 is succinct.

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Originally Posted by BobH

Birnando

Thank you for your two clarification posts. I almost popped a blood vessel when I initially saw the 21 year sentence. I am still uneasy though because I wonder if those extensions to his sentence will be based on a psychiatric assessment at each interval? If that is the case, then there is still a slim chance of his release at some point. Personally he does not deserve even that slim possibility and I think the ability to invoke the death penalty would have been a far better solution in this case.

Bob

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Technically, yes. Realistically no.
In fact, even IF he would ever change and stop being a danger (which is unlikely in the extreme), noone will ever put their signature under his release form because he has become an icon of evil. Kind of like Marc Dutroux or Freddy Horion in Belgium. Those people will never ever breath free air again.

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

For the Christians amongst us, Romans 12:19 is succinct.

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Isn't the mere act of placing a man in jail revenge? I would think that passage to vague? For me... What would you have the public do? Let him roam the streets killing until he figures it out for himself?

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Originally Posted by earcutter

Isn't the mere act of placing a man in jail revenge?

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I think that for most Christians, execution would be classed as revenge. Incarceration, likely to be permanent in Brevik's case, is necessary to protect society.

The death penalty is no deterrent and it never has been.

it should be very simple, you knowingly take another life in the commission of a crime and you then forfeit your own.

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

I think that for most Christians, execution would be classed as revenge. Incarceration, likely to be permanent in Brevik's case, is necessary to protect society.

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Thanks, I am not sure I see it that way, but I respect what you are saying.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The death penalty is no deterrent and it never has been.

it should be very simple, you knowingly take another life in the commission of a crime and you then forfeit your own.

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You know I hang around all together too many lawyers now that I think about it, and yes... it seems that the death penalty isn't a deterrent. I have been told this over and over - been shown the study's... But I still have some reservations. Sure it will not stop crimes of passion, but what about those that are thought out. Say things like drive-bys. You might think twice before you whip out your six shooter and start shooting up the hood knowing that you might get the chair if you hit someone.

I mean chopping off your left hand in some country's has been proven to be a very effective deterant.

A life for a life seems rational to me...?? I just don't trust the system to get it right, and hence my hesitation. How many times do we have to prove the wrong person got the chair? Man that's a crime in itself.