By whose (****ty) definitions?
Psychologists.. sociologists.. those kinds of twits.
Some people here (well one person anyway) clearly has a problem understanding that "criminal insanity" and its legal definition is a bit different from the colloquial use of "sane".
The exact definition will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but thefreedicitionary defines it as "In most criminal jurisdictions, a degree of mental malfunctioning sufficient to relieve the accused of legal responsibility for the act committed."
i.e. we say, if he IS insane, then it is not "his" fault and 'excuse' him of the wrong doing [although he may go to a mental institution for treatment]. In contrast what the court is saying, is he was not suffering from any recognised "mental illness". i.e. he was in control of his own decisions, and has a reasonable understanding of the consequences and repercussions when he acted in that way.
We must not fall into the trap of simply saying that everyone who behaves in a manner we find inexplicable must be insane.
It depends what you consider a cultural norm of rational thought. All over the world people kill each other to try and achieve their political objectives. Many of them do so with clear minds and considered thoughts. In the western world not many people would argue it is acceptable, but I don't know that I would say it is irrational.That action is by definition outside any cultural norm of acceptable behaviour or rational thought.
Berm Bandit - Member
You cannot possibly argue that his actions were those of a sane individual, because to do so makes the act sane.
No it doesnt.
Declaring him sane simply means he is responsible for his actions, it passes no judgement on the crime committed.
An insane person can claim their actions are being controlled externally, through illness etc etc.....it absolves one of responsibility.
This was the right decision, he has been declared sane and can now be vilified for the despicable human being he is.
^^^ is what I was trying to say.
have you seen his prison cell? http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/inside-norwegian-killer-anders-breiviks-priso
Some people here (well one person anyway) clearly has a problem understanding that "criminal insanity" and its legal definition is a bit different from the colloquial use of "sane".
I assume you mean Berm Bandit?
I don't think he is the only person to have said Breivik is clearly a loon, just perhaps on this thread.
have you seen his prison cell?
Seems pretty reasonable for a country that believes in rehabilitation not revenge, as mentioned earlier.
It's not exactly luxury, but not inhumane either, just functional.
As far as I can see, while his actions look like those of an insane person, they were carried out in a rational manner, for reasons that are perfectly sane based on his own view of how his society is disintegrating from outside influences. He's a vile, racist Nazi, in the proper sense of the term, and killing people who he sees as in some way responsible for despoiling the 'purity' of his homeland doesn't make him insane. Sociopathic, and coldly rational, instead.
Which is much more dangerous, because his world view is, to him, perfectly correct, the steps he took to return his society to his perceived idea of perfection absolutely the correct ones, I see no way he could be persuaded he's done wrong, and drug therapy won't work because his actions are not those caused by chemical imbalances in his brain.
Just my take, feel free to pull my theory apart by all means. 😀
I'm not in any way trained in psychology or psychiatry, but I can look at someone's actions and make some sort of sense out of them.
Perhaps I should have gone in to that line of work, but much too late now. 🙂
sane or insane, it's all pretty irrelevant, there's no chance he'll get let out in 21 years. He'll die in prison.
I'm not in any way trained in psychology or psychiatry, but I can look at someone's actions and make some sort of sense out of them.
I've met a few definitively insane people, and they are, by and large, usually fairly confused..
this guy was far from from confused
