I'm not sure how I feel about this. :/

[kriscat]

Anders Behring Breivik was criminally insane when he killed 77 people in Norway and is likely to be sent to a psychiatric ward, possibly for the rest of his life, prosecutors said Tuesday on the basis of a forensic examination.

Comments

[reddwarf75.livejournal.com]

I know what u mean :p
Marie

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I felt deep respect for the Norwegian criminal process as it must have been a terribly hard decision to come to, and that there is a confirmation process makes me feel that whatever result is reached in the end is likely to be an accurate one rather than a political one. I like the fact that there will still be a trial to determine his guilt and that the finding of insanity only affects where he will be imprisoned, not whether or not he can be found guilty – that is a system that is fair to the victims as well as to the accused, which is hard to manage, and admirable. And Jarl Robert Christensen in the article summed up my personal response.

[kriscat.livejournal.com]

I agree, it's the last thing Breivik wants. And I don't doubt he's mentally ill.

I'm just afraid that it will be so easy for some people to write this off as the work of a mad man, when there are traces of his views in an elected party of our riksdag. It's polished and PR'ed up for the cameras and extremely vile on forums online.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is the awful downside. But at least it's something that the average Norwegian is now more conscious of and, it seems, more vigilant in arguing against. I've been horrified in Australia over the last 10 years to see immigration issues go from being very small debates to driving policies for both major parties, in equally negative ways. Happily, here, a High Court ruling has seen sense restored, and it seems that the average Australian is coming back to having a more reasonable viewpoint on the issue (which prior to the politicisation of immigration, was the default view).