Is the Insanity Plea a legitimate defense?

[Treblaine]

Umm... Yeah? Why does it matter if they get a life sentence in prison or in the loony bin? They're still out of the way and no longer killing people.

Because if he's sent to the loony bin, they're assuming he can be rehabilitated into the society. He would be treated as if his murdering 77 innocent people was a symptom of illness and not a pre-meditated plan of murder. His lawyer (the poor bastard) will be trying to say that "he's sorry for what he did as he wasn't in control of his actions and that he should be able be made into a functioning member of the public again."

He needs to be locked up in a dirty cell made to look at the pictures of the families he's destroyed and never see the light of day. There are just some people who should have been aborted before birth and he's one of them.

I would contest that. An attempt should be made to rehabilitate people as much as possible. So if you have to opportunity to both confine someone and try to make them a normal person, why wouldn't you?

EDIT: Also, I would argue that murdering 77 people is always a sign of mental illness. A premeditated plan to kill people shows complete disregard for human life, which I would say is itself, a mental illness.

They can try as much as you like but considering the threat this individual poses I don't think you could ever be sure he is normal again, considering how normal he appeared before, yet was able to single-handedly orchestrate a brutal murder spree in combination with bombing, fake police uniform attacking a place where there is little to no escape.. That just shows such calculating deception he is too dangerous to ever be let out or access to anything remotely dangerous.

He clearly has zero compulsions over killing, he shot 69 young teenagers in cold blood after luring them close. It takes a steady hand to aim a rifle, not trembling with fear or worry. He had no reason to kill before, so even if he has no reason to kill again that is no Guarantee that he won't. He is clearly very adept at deception and self-delusion, so even is he "honestly" intends no harm that doesn't mean he won't actually do harm.

And he is smart. It takes brains for one person to kill so many and survive, he could have even escaped if he had wanted to. He's more than just a lunatic who goes on a spree with a knife, he clearly thought of the most pain and loss he could possibly inflict.

You can never know if he is normal, and his abnormality is simply far FAR too dangerous. You shouldn't trust this guy with even a ball-point pen! Not ever.

I don't really care if he lives or dies, we should learn from Moby Dick about the folly of wanting revenge on a being that does not have reason. I just want it so that he never hurts anyone again, a lethal measure would be the most sure guarantee but I guess a mental asylum would be the same. As long as they NEVER release him. As I'm sure they won't.

 

[Wintermoot]

should still go to prison if somebody is a danger to the society the only thing we can do is either kill that person or stow the person away.

 

[Major_Tom]

I don't understand how you people can read "Psychiatric Ward" and think "dancing freely in a grassy meadow".

 

[Woodsey]

Of course its a legitimate defence. You are aware of the definition of "insanity", aren't you?

I highly doubt a life-long stay in the loony bin is a walk in the park. People try and drag emotional baggage into this because they assume REVENGAAA! = justice. It doesn't.

Prison is for rehabilitation as much as it is for punishment (at least, it should be, whether that actually happens or not is pretty debatable), hospitals are for sick people, and where this man is going will be a mixture of both.

I don't really see why people are so sceptical about the insanity plea: its that hard to believe that mass murders don't have all their faculties in check, is it? His lawyer hasn't just gone "yeah, he's insane,"; they've had a professional examine him and come to that conclusion.

If a kid with Aspergers has a tendency to hit people, you wouldn't react to that in the same way you would to a regular kid of the same age doing the same thing.

I don't understand how you people can read "Psychiatric Ward" and think "dancing freely in a grassy meadow".

Gives them something to complain about.

 

[IxHADOUKENxI]

The way I see it is that if your considered sane enough to function normally (obeying laws and acting socially acceptable etc etc.)(Up to the point of the crime) in modern society and are also smart enough to orchestrate something even remotely on this scale then their is no way in my mind you should be able to plea your "insane"

 

[Kristoffer Sivertsen]

It is being discussed wether our institutions have good enough security to keep him there. He could end up in prison after all.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

The insanity plea is a legitimate defense. The question is, unless you are actually insane, why would you plea for it? In most cases, its probably worst then what you'd be sentenced to in Prison.

 

[A Free Man]

snip.

Well if the person was legitimately insane then of course it should be a defense. The dificult thing is figuring out whether they are lying or not. But I don't like the way people say this or that criminal "isn't going to jail", as if they are just being let go. Most likely they are going to a psychiatric care facility which could be as bad as or even worse then jail in some cases and could possibly spend a lot longer there then there sentence in an actual jail depending on their mental condition (obviously not in this case as it would merit a life sentence, but it is possible).

 

[Something Amyss]

He is now going to stay in a Psychiatric Ward for possibly the rest of

his life.

So he's going to be locked away from the general population for life. So where's the problem?

 

[winter2]

Although I no longer live in Norway and as such do not know what the current practices are, I did work at Ila Sikringsanstalt (Ila High Security Penitentiary) as an officer a little over 10 years ago.

I am assuming that this is where Breivik is located at this time as that prison is specifically built for individuals like him.

I worked in lukket avdeling (Solitary confinement) (I am pretty sure it's guaranteed that's where he is) and what was then known as Block B where the worst of the worst were placed when they were not in solitary.

I can only say that the impression people seem to be having of Norwegian prisons (At least as I know them) are somewhat disconnected from reality. For example, that one post that had a picture of a prison cell is not the cells we had at Ila. I can tell you that much.

Pretty much room for a bed and a sink and a table. And that was that. No internet. No TV. etc.etc.

I am assuming that the picture and the posters impression is from a low security prison and is in no way representative of the system as a whole.

When they were in solitary they spent 23 hours per day in a cell and 1 hour outside in a very tightly confined space with very high walls all around them. Any prisoner not in solitary are expected to put in 8 hours of work every day. If they do not work they are locked inside their cell.

After work they are allowed out into a common area for each block that would have one TV.

And they do have the opportunity to do some education as well while incarcerated, but again, only as long as they show willingness to work within the system.

I just want to share one more thought. I always thought it was interesting that you could sometimes hear hardcore psychotics break down and start crying alone in the dark when you slammed the cell door closed.

 

[Sealpower]

My guess is that he faked insanity and if Norway's system works anything like Sweden's... Well, he'll be out in 3-4 years, when the doctors realized that he isn't actually insane.

 

[Yopaz]

I don't know why people don't get this. And here of all places... you'd think no one has ever heard of Arkham Asylum. Figure this guy is going someplace like it just much less interesting yet vastly more disturbing and depressing.

Honestly, it being Norway, he probably will be kept in a bright, clean, well-lit room and his orderlies will probably never mistreat him.

This man will never not be heavily medicated full stop.

The rest of this man's existence involve very simple shapes and several gallons of drool, I shit you not.

Actually psychiatric care hasn't really improved much in the last 40 years. The major change is the medicines we use. He will be medicated after need, but that doesn't change the fact that it's going to be pretty bad in there. Seeing how nice the prisons are he's most likely get it worse there than in prison.

 

[babinro]

The person should be sent to wherever they can get the proper treatment for possible recovery. I don't believe the prison system works at all at least in how it's handled in North America.

Psych ward seems appropriate for someone with that kind of mental illness. Putting him in jail wouldn't help anyone, it's just a lazy way to say, "we've given up on you, but we won't kill you. This way you can continue to be a burden on society and live a miserable life."

 

[mental_looney]

He's not just delusional or psychotic at the time of the attack, he's highly disturbed and has been for years, temporary insanity defense and actual insanity are not quite the same, I wasn't in control of my actions at the time to he has no idea of the real world any of the time and the ramifications of his actions and the ability to rationalise them in his own skewed version of the world .

He needs to be kept away from people and get a lot of help so psychiatric confinement would be the best thing for the public as well as him.

 

[masticina]

Well some people are crazy. And yes they might have done bad things like killing people.. so yeah they deserve to be put away. But to put them with normal prisoners [what is normal anyway?] .. probably not a good idea. Unless you want to thin them out.

So a psychiatric prison sounds like a better place. 77 People? He is in that a long long long long long time! Not to mention that I do not have insight how they define treatment. It could indeed be very very very harsh medical treatment.

I self don't like medicines that do nasty things with the mind. I have seen what shit they can do... the stuff they give these days is light compared to some of the older pills. The older stuff? If they give him that.. well its hell!