Not every developed nation embraces America’s get-tough-on-crime prison philosophy. This minimum security prison colony is located on Bastoy Island in the middle of the Oslofjord. It houses slightly over 100 inmates who live in small cottages and work on the prison farm. Sunbathing in addition to tennis, fishing and horseback riding are the preferred pastimes of the prisoners.
Scandinavian countries are a class apart.
There was a lot of debate how the Norway terrorist who killed 77 people would spend his jail time in comfort.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/world/europe/anders-behring-breivik-murder-trial.html?_r=0Mr. Breivik, lawyers say, will live in a prison outside Oslo in a three-cell suite of rooms equipped with exercise equipment, a television and a laptop, albeit one without Internet access. If he is not considered a threat after serving his sentence, the maximum available under Norwegian law, he will be eligible for release in 2033, at the age of 53.I think that is a really bad move, making a person live in comfort after whatever this guy has done. If I was a judge, I would have had this guy hanged instantly, no fucking doubt about it. The lifestyle he must be living in the jail is not possible for so many millions of people in Africa, India, etc. People would kill and get into that jail for that lifestyle lol
This is precisely why there was such a huge outrage after his sentencing.
A lot of countries have abolished the death penalty and the jails aren't pretty bad either.
There was no outrage.
In fact, the court case was extremely well executed by judge Judge Wenche Arntzen. The most controversy was about the sanity of the defendant, where the prosecutors wanted to declare him insane, but the defense and the defendant himself wanted him to be declared sane (opposite of what you might expect). The parties had two psychiatrists each. The judge were quite furious about what they said, and delved into the psychiatry books herself to make sense of it, eventually declaring him sane.
The difference in time would not be that large, but with the case of insanity, his release would be entirely up to the psychiatrists. The public was satisfied that he was declared sane, and therefore had to take the responsibility. He was the one who did the deed. There were reasons for his actions to be found in his childhood, still, he was the one who did it.
What confuses me, is that the public did not see that it could have been prevented with a little thought of self defense. A large convention on a small island, with a single person staff ferry as the only means of communication. He must have known that it was defenseless. About a third of the attendants would be hunters with their own rifles, and a small security team could have been arranged for no expense at all. No, it was all about strengthening the police, but the conclusion was and must be that having enough police for this type of occasion will not be possible.
Luckily, there were no effect on gun laws. He had legal, registered guns that he owned himself.