# Norwegian prison time isn't as easy as some Americans thought (Anders Breivik) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352 "2014-02-14T18:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/41 "2014-02-16T04:17:41Z")
Or maybe he asked for some kickass old-school Scandinavian black metal and they gave him something super lame like Cradle of Filth instead. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/42 "2014-02-16T04:19:36Z")
I may have already posted this comment, I’ve been thinking f it for a while. It seems strange that USA prisons treat minor drug users as mass murderers, and Norwegian prisons treat mass murderers as minor drug users. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/43 "2014-02-16T04:44:32Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Give him a Super NES and one copy of Battletoads. Tell him he can have more when he finishes it. Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! Or the Sega Genesis version, either one will do. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/44 "2014-02-16T06:06:09Z")
> [@](#): > > It seems strange that USA prisons treat minor drug users as mass murderers, and Norwegian prisons treat mass murderers as minor drug users. And folks, we have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/45 "2014-02-16T08:06:42Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > What Breivik needs is a date with the Kervorkian Machine. Sadly, for some dumb reason, the EU has determined that the death penalty is too barbaric even for unrepentant, barbaric criminals. Whatever. Correct, “whatever” as you rightly say. The Norwegian approach is the mark of a mature and civilised society. The fact that USA still has state sponsored killing is a stain on your judicial system. Of course it is too barbaric and the majority of the civilised world agrees. It exists only as a means of revenge and to satisfy bloodlust. How is it helping the USA jail population figures by the way?? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/46 "2014-02-16T13:58:59Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Of course it is too barbaric and the majority of the civilised world agrees. It exists only as a means of revenge and to satisfy bloodlust. How is it helping the USA jail population figures by the way?? We won’t know unless we stop executing. [Paroling them again and again](http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/jan/07/trial-delayed-parole-absconder/) is certainly not the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/47 "2014-02-16T15:27:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > [Paroling them again and again](http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/jan/07/trial-delayed-parole-absconder/) is certainly not the answer. That link isn’t clear, was he paroled after sentencing on a murder charge? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/48 "2014-02-16T16:09:32Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > That link isn’t clear, was he paroled after sentencing on a murder charge? He had not previously committed murder. Here is a link from the [Department of Correction.](http://adc.arkansas.gov/inmate_info/search.php?dcnum=085865&FAC=X60) An Arkansas law planned to lessen the prison load caused him to be continually paroled. Even paroled when he had charges for not meeting his parole officer. I can’t find a link to the numbers of years he should have been serving. Sources reported 40-70. At any rate, 36 hours after his last parole he kidnapped two young men, forced them to use ATM cards and killed one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/49 "2014-02-16T17:22:01Z")
Again, not that it matters, but Norway isn’t a member of the EU. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/50 "2014-02-16T17:41:38Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He had not previously committed murder. > Here is a link from the [Department of Correction.](http://adc.arkansas.gov/inmate_info/search.php?dcnum=085865&FAC=X60) > > An Arkansas law planned to lessen the prison load caused him to be continually paroled. Even paroled when he had charges for not meeting his parole officer. > > I can’t find a link to the numbers of years he should have been serving. Sources reported 40-70. > At any rate, 36 hours after his last parole he kidnapped two young men, forced them to use ATM cards and killed one of them. OK, I do accept that the one decent argument for capital punishment is that it removes the chance of re-offending. I don’t think it is a\* good enough\* argument seeing as full life terms are a possible alternative but there we are, bleeding-heart liberal I remain ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/51 "2014-02-16T19:35:34Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > If they really wanted to punish him, they’d give him a Nintendo Wii-U and make him wait for the next Legend of Zelda game. That’s cold, money. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/52 "2014-02-16T19:55:58Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I am opposed to the death penalty simply because I might be convicted of a capital crime that I did not commit. You are not going to be wrongfully convicted of dozens of individual murders. The United States goes way too far in allowing “eh, fuck it” instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt”, but that does not mean it is wrong to use the death penalty for once in a blue moon criminals like this guy. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/53 "2014-02-16T20:27:10Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You are not going to be wrongfully convicted of dozens of individual murders. The United States goes way too far in allowing “eh, fuck it” instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt”, but that does not mean it is wrong to use the death penalty for once in a blue moon criminals like this guy. Every juror who voted to convict someone was certain that he or she did it. It is a precedent. Execute Bundy and this guy, and someone will _know_ that I tumped a rock over onto my sunbathing wife when she was actually struck by a meteorite. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/54 "2014-02-16T21:34:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Every juror who voted to convict someone was certain that he or she did it. The juror doesn’t get to decide the sentence, the judge does. The judge should only sentence the defendant to the death penalty if he’s 100% certain of his guilt. If he wouldn’t be willing to bet five years of his own life on the result, he should choose life without parole. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/55 "2014-02-16T22:00:02Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > The juror doesn’t get to decide the sentence, the judge does. The judge should only sentence the defendant to the death penalty if he’s 100% certain of his guilt. If he wouldn’t be willing to bet five years of his own life on the result, he should choose life without parole. Okay, every judge who has sentenced an innocent person to death has been certain that he was guilty. And I know, from my divorce, indeed, I am CERTAIN that judges are assholes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/56 "2014-02-16T22:33:20Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > You are not going to be wrongfully convicted of dozens of individual murders. The United States goes way too far in allowing “eh, fuck it” instead of “beyond a reasonable doubt”, but that does not mean it is wrong to use the death penalty for once in a blue moon criminals like this guy. Or be like California. Sentence them to death, but you might not get around to killing them before their 90th birthday, so the end up costing the state much more than the general prison population. According to my back of the envelope Google survey, there are now ~740 death row inmates, and 13 have been executed by the state since 1978. 83 have died in some other fashion. > [@Grumman](#): > > The juror doesn’t get to decide the sentence, the judge does. The judge should only sentence the defendant to the death penalty if he’s 100% certain of his guilt. If he wouldn’t be willing to bet five years of his own life on the result, he should choose life without parole. Doesn’t the judge tell the jury that capital punishment is a _possibility_, or is that a TV invention? Judges can be capricious, hence the term “hanging judge.” I wanted to try to be one, but then someone told me that I actually wanted to be a “hung judge” (they was right). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/57 "2014-02-16T22:46:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I volunteer to laugh at Norwegian prisoners with ridiculous senses of entitlement. I’ve not checked to see if he’s some sort of pin up for the Norwegian right wing fringe after his spree, but if whinging like this keeps him from being one, good 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/58 "2014-02-16T23:03:11Z")
Why did they burn Bundy, but keep Manson alive? Is there no death penalty in California? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/59 "2014-02-16T23:09:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Why did they burn Bundy, but keep Manson alive? Is there no death penalty in California? Well Bundy killed lots of people, Manson killed zero himself. He did get the death sentence in 1971, but in 1972 California put a moratorium on it, commuting his sentence, and he wasn’t re-sentenced after it came back. That, and Florida didn’t do such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352/60 "2014-02-16T23:24:50Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > He did get the death sentence in 1971, but in 1972 California put a moratorium on it, commuting his sentence, and he wasn’t re-sentenced after it came back. > > That, and Florida didn’t do such a thing. Pretty much - more specifically, a California Supreme Court decision ruled the death penalty unconstitutional according to the state constitution. That meant that everyone on California’s death row automatically had their death sentences commuted to life, including the Manson family killers and Sirhan Sirhan. The state constitution has since been amended, but not only do the commutations remain, anyone who committed a murder prior to 1972 is ineligible for the death penalty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norwegian-prison-time-isnt-as-easy-as-some-americans-thought-anders-breivik/681352.md?page=4)