Norway's Little Problem. Part 2.

On July 22nd 2011 Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb in Oslo Norway's capital. He then moved on to Utoya island where he went on a shooting spree. By the time he'd been apprehended by the police 76 people were dead. So unprecedented was this type of attack that Norway's legal system doesn't really have any way to deal with Breivik now he's been captured. The maximum prison sentence he can receive is around 20 years and there are serious concerns for his safety in a prison system where most of the other inmates will quite happily kill him.

Breivik's defence team have suggested a possible solution that obviously represents the best option for their client. On November 29th they submitted psychiatric reports to the Court that found Breivik to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and at the time of the attacks was in a psychotic state that meant he cannot be held criminally responsible for his actions and should be sent to a secure psychiatric hospital for treatment. Obviously the prosecution will now submit it's own psychiatric reports and the Court has the option to order it's own reports before making it's decision. The problem the defence team will face is that Breivik didn't simply pick up a gun one morning and start shooting. Instead he planned the attacks over a period of several months buying the ingredients to make a bomb, making that bomb to a high technical specification and writing and distributing a lengthy but coherent manifesto explaining his actions. Although not impossible it is highly unlikely that someone in a psychotic state would be able to maintain the required level of functionality over such a long period of time. However Breivik might be that extreme example.

For the sake of a quiet life the Norwegian authorities might choose not to test that point in too much detail. Although I think an exception can be made in this specific case this solution does leave me feeling a little uncomfortable. Declaring people insane and then locking them up because of their political beliefs is something you would expect from totalitarian societies like China rather then free and liberal societies like Norway and can actually make the treatment of people with genuine psychiatric problems more difficult. Obviously though it's not my country, not my tragedy and therefore not my decision to make but now time has passed and emotions have cooled somewhat I think prison might be the best option because 20 years is not a short amount of time and once someone is in prison there are always ways of making sure they never leave prison. For example I believe Breivik has already assaulted a prison guard extending his sentence by five years.