Breivik gets 21 years

[Martinus]

How long till he gets out?

[Eddie Teach]

Do Scandinavian courts not even have life sentencing options?

[Viking]

Do Scandinavian courts not even have life sentencing options?

Life = 21 years.

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years. And it is not 21 years prison, it is 21 years storage. So, even when the sentence is completed he will still have to convince a parole board that he should be released.

[Legbiter]

Glad the court didn't take the easy way out and rule that he was insane.

[Admiral Yi]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

[Martinus]

Glad the court didn't take the easy way out and rule that he was insane.

I thought that would be preferable - from what I heard from a Swedish friend, being declared insane would allow the crown to keep him locked up forever, whereas once he serves his time they can't stop him getting out (although what Viking is saying seems to contradict that).

[The Brain]

In Sweden he would have gotten life.

[Solmyr]

Glad the court didn't take the easy way out and rule that he was insane.

He has stated that he would appeal if he were ruled insane.

[Viking]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

When you get sentenced to a life sentence you actually get sentenced to a 21 year sentence.

[Viking]

Glad the court didn't take the easy way out and rule that he was insane.

I thought that would be preferable - from what I heard from a Swedish friend, being declared insane would allow the crown to keep him locked up forever, whereas once he serves his time they can't stop him getting out (although what Viking is saying seems to contradict that).

He got Storage, that means he only gets out when the parole board lets him out. They can keep him in forever.

Unlike life in prison which would mean he'd get out in 2032. The problem with insanity is that it he would get released on his shrink's say so tomorrow.

[MadImmortalMan]

In Sweden he would have gotten life.

In Sweden, killing 70 people is not as bad as a she-changed-her-mind-afterward rape accusation. Breivik would have to flee to Ecuador.

[Razgovory]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

When you get sentenced to a life sentence you actually get sentenced to a 21 year sentence.

Damn, I thought you people lived longer then that.

[Jacob]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

It means that he serves 21 years without parole. Then after that, every five years he can try to convince some board or other that he's not a danger to society which will result in release. He could end up on the inside until he's dead.

[derspiess]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

It means that he serves 21 years without parole. Then after that, every five years he can try to convince some board or other that he's not a danger to society which will result in release. He could end up on the inside until he's dead.

Why not life with no chance of parole?  Or does that sentence not exist in Scandiweenia?

[Viking]

Formally he gets a life sentence but that has been normalized to 21 years.

What does this mean?

It means that he serves 21 years without parole. Then after that, every five years he can try to convince some board or other that he's not a danger to society which will result in release. He could end up on the inside until he's dead.

Eh, no...

You are mixing up stuff here.

Breivik has NOT been sentenced to prison, he has been sentenced to storage. Note the word, storage. It is not a punishment. He is being removed from society for societies sake. This is not about attempting to reform him he cannot in the words of every "reformed criminal" pay his debt to society.

Just to elaborate on the lexicon, and when I first learned the meaning of norwegian prison words I bust a vein.

Life - the longest peacetime sentence a norwegian court can give, it is normalized to 21 years so a life sentence for a 20 year old and a 50 year old are not substantively different.

Year - a norwegian prison year is 8 months. Yes, norwegian prisoners get vacation days. And, willy mays style, they get released for weekend visits to family and often for christmas.

Prison - regular prison as you know it in the rest of the world. Prisoners are eligible for parole after 2/3 of their sentenced has been served (14 prison years for a life sentence, approx 10 real years), with good behavior parole is always granted.

Storage - a sentence which includes a regular prison sentence but also requires a parole hearing to be released. This is a relatively new innovation for norwegian justice and nobody sentenced to storage has yet been released. The english language equivalent is life with eligability for parole after 21 years. Though technically the state has to petition for parole being denied to the best of my knowledge this petition has never been refused and the state has never declined to make such a petition.

Breivik has been sentenced to storage. He can petition for release after 14 prison years and he will be released after 21 prison years unless the state petitions to keep him in. Norwegian government being the incestious little petry dish that it is this boils down to him being held at the justice minister's leasure.