Brevik Gets What Amounts To Life

Anders Behring Breivik, rightwing mass murderer, has been judged sane and sentenced to at least 21 years in prison by a Norwegian court. The sentence, the maximum in Norway, means Brevik will almost certainly never see daylight as it will be followed by “preventative detention” which can last as long as an inmate is still considered too dangerous to release. The decision to find him sane is political, and overturns the findings of court-appointed psychiatrists who found he was a paranoid schizophrenic. The public demanded that his life in prison be ‘punishment’ rather than ‘medical aid’ but really, what’s the difference when there’s no chance of release? The sentence should have us all thinking about our prejudgements about prisons; are they meant to be punishment, rehabilitation or an unlikely, unweildy combination of both? And what should we do with those we don’t think can ever be rehabilitated by any method and who we think are too dangerous to ever walk the streets? These aren’t rhetorical questions.