By IANS,
London : Norway’s mass killer could be jailed only for 21 years because it is the longest sentence available to judges in that country, a media report said Monday.
In England and Wales, repeat killers can be told they will die behind bars with a ‘whole life’ tariff, and killers who use a knife or gun face minimum terms of 25 and 30 years.
But in Norway, few killers serve more than 14 years. Even those given the maximum term can be released after two-thirds of their sentence, and many are given unsupervised weekend parole after just one third, the Daily Mail reported.
Only in exceptional cases, if officials consider a prisoner is still highly dangerous, sentences are extended for additional five-year blocks, it said.
Norway’s incarceration rates – the number of people jailed per head of population – are among the lowest in Europe. Some 66 are behind bars for every 100,000 citizens, less than half the figure for the UK, the Mail said.
Anders Behring Breivik, 32, has admitted carrying out a bombing in Oslo and a massacre on Utoeya island, killing at least 93 people. About 96 more were injured. He was Monday slated to make his first appearance in a Norwegian court.
The bombing in Oslo targeted buildings connected to Norway’s governing Labour Party, and the youth camp on Utoeya island was also run by the party.