Norway where unbelievable happens

Why is this insane? He's excercising his right as a citizen (which I would like to remind you he still is). He isn't being let out of his cell and he's being held in solitary for god knows how long. What's more insane is the fact that for-profit prisons have quotas to put more people away at the expense of tax payers.

Classic liberals being liberals.

This guy should be put before the firing squad, not reading literature and studying minority rights.

This is an example of when they need to change the rules so convicts facing life imprisonment can't be accepted despite the broad mandate of this prison bridge program.

But......but.........what's he gonna do otherwise when he gets released? He only got a 21 year sentence, do we want him to be poor and feel marginalized when he gets out at 50 something years old?

/sarcasm

This discussion begs a simplification: should prisons exist to punish, to rehabilitate or both?

After 8 years of Obama and if Hillary wins in 2016, the U.S. won't be too different from Norway. It's on its way to becoming a European style welfare state.

I don't see the harm in him reading some books and getting a few papers graded which seems like all this is. If there is a way to reform this person, this seems as good a way as any.

"Book-worm".

The fascinating thing about Breivik and what your discussion is missing out is that he planned it out from the start.

Key to his manifesto were: 1. he intended to strike a blow to left wing politics in Norway for three decades 2. he wanted to show how easy it was for someone with a decent IQ to perpetrate terrorist acts 3. he wanted to show how low the cost would be for a murderer thanks to Norway's generous left wing punishment policies (and thus how stupid they were) (and this is linked to 1 and 2 because it made the ROI worth it vs, say, getting executed 6 months later as he would have been in Singapore)

He succeeded on all three counts.

1. He took out so many promising young left wing politicians that no matter what the backlash and opposition to his acts were, it will be hard for the left wing parties to source talent for a while, and may just have imbalanced the system enough to guarantee a long term conservative reign in Norwegian politics once that generation gets to power. If you trace politicians' backgrounds to their student days, you'll find that a lot started this early, by being student union presidents, party members, etc. and it takes a long time to mould a mind to either come to the conclusion that socialism is a good idea, or to find smart psychopaths who want to use a stronger state to advance their own political goals. It is of course also a war of ideas, but if you remove half the opposition before the debate starts, you have a much better chance of winning. So from his POV he did a great favour to Norway by pushing the balance towards what he saw as the productive side.

2. I was stunned when I read the account of how he prepared and executed his lone wolf attack. This is by far the best executed, best planned terrorist attack on a Western country since 9/11 and 7/7. It was targeted, it was immaculately executed, right down to the diversion in Oslo (causing minimal victims, too, because "civilians" weren't the target) causing communications chaos and diverting police resources from the island where the real action then happened. From the purchase of a farm to cover both his independentist politics and his desire for fertiliser (it worked, he was investigated and whitelisted), to how he obtained and trained with weapons legally (which was easier than getting them illegally in CZ).

I remember reading a critique of US forces' steep learning curve in Kosovo, when instead of dealing with almost medieval mountain dwellers they suddenly found themselves facing college educated Westerners who even managed the first ever F117 kill by judiciously hacking the mobile phone networks... Well, the police just got a chance to taste what it is like to face a white, college educated terrorist with drive and patience, and the results were pretty chilling.

3. he avoided being sent to a mental hospital (which would be a life sentence) and instead was sent to effectively stay in a 2* hotel for a few decades, during which he can enjoy writing, reading and even it seems learning a bunch of new skills. In 20-30 years he might even be released if he shows good behaviour. The very treatment was anticipated and described in his manifesto, and he intended to use his own example as a means of stirring public opinion against the - in his view - too lax punishment meted out by Norwegian justice. Every step of the play is acting out exactly as he predicted it.

The real question is, how do you stop a Breivik? He got through security like a knife through hot butter. He thought about it a bit then systematically bypassed every stopgap and security measure enacted to avoid a Norwegian 9/11. And he was an amateur reading books on his farm. Think about what the determined, experienced, well trained Russians, Americans, Chinese, etc. agents are capable of doing if they so wish. Security "theatre" indeed.

"the people he killed are the scumbags like yourself. I couldn't care less about seeking "vengeance" for the communists that he murdered."

This is fked up, seriously. When people let politics get in the way of being a decent person its frightening, its just politics dude. The guy killed a bunch of teens and you're worried about their political affiliation? I'm glad I don't know you.