"His conditions according to Norwegian standards are excellent," said his prison psychiatrist, Randi Rosenqvist. While Breivik's human rights case was ultimately overturned by a higher court, the episode showed just how far the Norwegian criminal justice system could bend in favor of prisoners' rights and living conditions. He also complained about the quality of the prison food, having to eat with plastic utensils and not being able to communicate with sympathizers. In 2016, Breivik successfully sued the Norwegian government for human rights abuses, complaining about his isolation from other prisoners, frequent strip searches and the fact that he was often handcuffed during the early part of his incarceration. "Obviously this has been extremely trying for survivors, the bereaved and Norwegian society as a whole," said Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, professor of law at the University of Oslo, adding that there is debate in Norway over whether parole regulations should be overhauled in a bid to prevent this type of grandstanding.įILE - Convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik's hands are seen in handcuffs as he arrives at a courthouse in Oslo, Aug. The outburst was familiar to Norwegians who had watched him deliver rambling diatribes during his partially televised criminal trial. However, he advises a slow approach that does not bend to Breivik's desire to subvert the system.ĭuring a three-day parole hearing this week that was broadcast to journalists, Breivik renounced violence, but also flashed a Nazi salute and espoused white supremacy, echoing ideas in a manifesto he released at the time of his killing spree. And there has been debate here about whether part of the justice system should be changed for someone like him," said Erik Kursetgjerde, who survived the slaughter on Utoya island as an 18-year-old. "We have never had anyone in Norway who has been responsible for this level of violence before. Still, Breivik's extreme case is testing the limits of Norway's commitment to tolerance and rehabilitation. Halfway through a 21-year sentence and seeking early release, Breivik, 42, is being treated in a way that might seem shocking to people outside Norway, where he killed eight in an Oslo bombing in 2011, and then stalked and gunned down 69 people, mostly teens, at a summer camp.īut here - no matter how wicked the crime - convicts benefit from a criminal justice system that is designed to offer prisoners some of the comforts and opportunities of life on the outside. The trial itself is about more than just proving or disproving guilt, but about exorcising the victims' suffering.Convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik spends his days in a spacious three-room cell, playing video games, exercising, watching TV and taking university-level courses in mathematics and business. Norway does this too, but it also includes this restorative tool of giving space to victims, not as evidence, but to make the trial a forum for those victims to heal and to confront the man who'd harmed them. The court heard 77 autopsy reports, 77 descriptions of how Breivik had killed them, and 77 minute-long biographies "voicing his or her unfulfilled ambitions and dreams." In an American-style retributive system, the trial is primarily about hearing and evaluating the case against the criminal. Victims were individually represented by 174 court-appointed lawyers. In the Breivik trial, this meant giving every victim (survivors as well as the families of those killed) a direct voice. "Restorative justice thus begins with a concern for victims and how to meet their needs, for repairing the harm as much as possible, both concretely and symbolically," explains a 1997 academic article, by a scholar of restorative justice named Howard Zehr, extolling the systems' virtues.
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