18-04-2003 19:14									#61
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Israeli judges often award murderers several consecutive life sentances (one for each person he killed), thus making sure than even if shortened, the prisoner will spend a life in jail.

What would you people have felt if the murderer of Rabin would get a mere 18 y sentance?

	21-04-2003 21:02									#62
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Tilting at Windmills

quote: Americans who worship the criminal justice systems of Our Betters in Europe should take a long look at the slap-on-the-wrist sentence passed on the Netherlands' first political assassin since World War II. "What do you have to do to get a life sentence?" Fortuyn supporter Patricia Houdkamp complained to the Independent of London newspaper. Some American newspapers have dubbed Fortuyn a "right-wing politician" -- which may have made his murder more palatable to some readers. Others tagged Fortuyn as "anti-immigrant." The one-note taglines don't tell the story, however. Fortuyn was a outspoken homosexual activist who wanted the Dutch government to pay more attention to the common man. Fortuyn also referred to Islam as a "backward religion," which he saw as a threat to Dutch's liberal attitude toward women and gays, and hence advocated a moratorium on immigration. Van der Graaf used the immigration issue as a warm-hearted excuse for his cold-blooded deed. He compared Fortuyn to Adolph Hitler, charged that Fortuyn "abused democracy" and asserted that Fortuyn was scapegoating Muslims -- the "weak side of society" -- for self-aggrandizement. Figure a man who would commit murder can't be expected to be above misrepresenting his politics. The fact is, the "weak side" van der Graaf chose to kill for are critters. This killer showed only the pretense of remorse, yet the Dutch judges pronounced van der Graaf as unlikely to kill again. "There are a whole lot of Europeans who would disagree vehemently with that opinion and would sentence that guy to life in prison immediately," Hoover Institution fellow Dennis Bark noted. True, but those aren't the voices leading the European Union herd. Readers are aware that the Netherlands, like all EU countries, has no death penalty. But you may not know that the EU issued a policy paper that criticized life sentences and called for "moving toward keeping imprisonment to an absolute minimum." Van der Graaf's minimal sentence is in the spirit of the EU ideal. The Dutch have imposed 21 life sentences in the last half century -- usually for unrepentant, high-profile serial killers. Van der Graaf is just an unrepentant, high-profile, political killer -- who murdered a man and an election. A Fortuyn partisan told the Guardian, "Fortuyn was killed for his ideas -- think about that." Fortuyn was killed for his ideas, and his killer will be set free because of a judicial philosophy that fails to consider the consequences of setting violent people free."

	21-04-2003 22:42									#63
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quote: Fortuyn was killed for his ideas...

That's what shocked me about the killing as well, the concept of killing a man - in this case a prominent politician - for his ideas.

His ideas may have been frowned upon by a lot of people, no question about that, but it's still horrible to think that they were the motive for killing him.

Perhaps the only thing more horrible is that a certain, presumably not too small, segment of the political spectrum think that Fortuyn had it coming. Those people are fine with what van der Graaf did and have been conspicuously absent in condemning the assassination.

	24-04-2003 07:25									#64
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Italy release the Achille Lauro highjackers/killers several years ago? Didn't they, even the one who murdered the passenger, get about the same sentence as Fotuyn's killer?

Someday criminals are going to catch on to how good the pickings are in Europe, and then the Europeans are in for some trouble.