The martial artist in me is conflicted by the recent turn of events in Colorado, and the anniversary the mass murder in Oslo, Norway. The Norwegian gunman had more than an hour to hunt down and attack his victims. More than an hour, which means that he had to stop and reload at multiple points. As a person that trains in self defense based arts, I can’t help but think about what I would do if faced by such a threat. Would my training make a difference? Would I freeze or rise to the challenge? Are the arts that I am studying really effective in real combat situation? In truth, I don’t have any answers. I would hope that be able to protect myself and my loved ones. Or at the very least make the son of a bitch regret picking me or mine as a target.
My father was gunned down when I was fourteen as he was closing down his candy shop for the evening. The murderer was never found. Even as a young man I often fantasized about finding my father’s murderer and making him pay for his crime. But just like my hero, Batman, I didn’t want to kill him. I wanted to punish him. I wanted to hurt him so badly that death would be a welcome retreat from the constant and permanent pain he would be forced to endure.
Many Americans I know have been upset recently by the decision in the case of the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik. As a New Yorker and a US citizen, I too have been unsettled at how the Norwegians have made a point to treat Breivik with far more humanity than he showed his victims. However, the article below makes an compelling case why the Norwegian approach might be a far more sensible tactic than the old school New York style justice that I and many others might advocate.
But how do we deal with this type of evil is the question I am posing. Do we stick to the rule of law even when someone like Breivik manipulates the system to get exactly the outcome that he wanted? Or do we say that some crimes can cause a person to forfeit their right to be treated in a humane fashion?
Everything that I have seen, in my admittedly limited experience, on the Norwegian justice system speaks to the fact that they believe in a rehabilitative process as opposed to one that is purely punishment based. And while I find it unsettling that their prisons offer a standard of living greater than people have in many countries, they have an extremely low crime rate and low rate of recidivism among criminals. What I am asking is getting our “pound of flesh” in the US and other more strict societies worth the cost we are paying for it?
The man calmly stalked and shot 69 children at point blank range. That is a whole different level of evil. Some have said that violence breeds more violence, and vindictive “justice” can breed more terror. That might be true, but every time I see that smirk cross Breivik’s face it is hard not to want to make him suffer in the most painful way possible.
