From the Island of Death
July 23rd, 2011 - 8:01 am
So the Oslo terrorist is a right-wing extremist. Is that somehow better, than had he been yet another jihadi? Is it worse? No. His victims — 90 and counting, mostly kids it seems — are still just as dead. And he’s still just a terrorist.
My only worry is that Norway’s famously-lax justice system won’t be able to deal as harshly with this monster as he deserves.
Left-wing, right-wing … Perpetrators of such evil are not really politically motivated. They are delusional, and they (or their excusers) will latch onto any convenient rationalization to “justify” the violence. Much time is wasted searching for motives rather than trying to identify those with sociopathic behavior before they can inflict such damage.
The Powerline boys pointed out something about that island massacre: the gunman was the only one who was armed. His victims were like fish in a bucket. Horrible.
He is charged under the “terror paragraph,” which provides for a maximum penalty of 21 years. However, there is a permanent go-to-jail provision in the code that allows for “indefinite” sentencing – ie., potentially life.
Norway, with its “famously-lax justice system”, has a much lower murder rate than the U.S.
There’s very little murder among Norwegian-Americans, too. I’d argue that culture trumps law. It usually does.
The max he can get is 26 years in prison. I think he should be placed in a room full of angry Dad’s armed with razor blades and they can see just how long and how painful they can make it for him before he bleeds out.
@ Stephen Green:
“There’s very little murder among Norwegian-Americans, too. I’d argue that culture trumps law. It usually does.”
Agreed. But that brings up the next question, “how do cultures change?” How did violent, warlike Vikings turn into peace-loving Norwegians?
Not sure, but they did so long before the 21st century dawned. Haven’t heard of any Viking atttacks lately (accept for the mostly lame Minnesota NFL team)!