Norwegian professors defend lenient judicial system in wake of massacre

Norway's twin terror attacks suspect Anders Behring Breivik, left, sits in an armored police vehicle after leaving the courthouse following a hearing in Oslo, Norway, Monday, July 25, 2011, where he pleaded not guilty to one of the deadliest modern mass killings in peacetime. (AP Photo/Aftenposten/Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen) NORWAY OUT

Norwegian law professors tell The Daily Caller that they are proud of their lenient judicial system and hope that it is not altered in the wake of the Friday’s massacre.

TheDC contacted three professors from the University of Oslo’s faculty of law over the weekend to confirm Norwegian police reports that the maximum sentence that can be imposed on killer Anders Behring Breivik is 21 years. All three confirmed that 21 years was the maximum possible sentence, but two of the professors offered a defense of the system that would allow Breivik to be out of jail by his mid-50s.

“I think it is very important to keep it that way, despite the gruesome events that have occurred now,” Professor Thomas Mathiesen said of the 21-year max penalty. “Norwegian society will gain nothing from a higher punishment level, people of this kind will not become less prone to engage as this man did on Friday 22 July, and the punishment level we have now will contribute to Norway staying the relatively humane society that we are proud of and want to live in.”

“Many among us are proud to live in a country that emphasize moderation in retribution,” Professor Nils Christie told TheDC. “I hope, and believe, that we also this time will be able to stick to our ideals of moderation in punishment. The preliminary reactions to these days of horror in Norway have been exposure of a strong urge to live up to our basic ideals of remaining an open welfare society based on humanity.”

One of the professors contacted, however, said the attacks challenged his understanding of evil, though he didn’t comment on whether their lenient penal system should be reevaluated.

“We are all very traumatized,” Professor Per Ole Johansen said, noting his office was so close to the bombing in Oslo that the building “was trembling like a weak tree in the storm.”

“The massacre of the flower of the Norwegian youth have basically challenged our traditional Nordic understanding of the Evil and the willingness to be cruel.”

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