"Perhaps the most lucid and succinct summary I’ve seen of the ensuing developments appeared this weekend in the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen. Klaus Wivel began by noting two ways in which Norway singles itself out: first, in no nation in the world are more defendants declared insane; second, in Norway, as opposed to many other countries, if a defendant is declared insane, that’s it: he’s put into the care of mental-health authorities, and the legal and penal systems no longer have any say in his future.
In the case of Breivik, this well-established state of affairs outraged many Norwegians, who, understandably, wanted to see him put behind bars forever. It also disappointed many on the Left, for whom the idea of Breivik as a madman was of no use at all; they wanted him put on trial, so that they could also try, as it were, their own enemies on the Right whose criticism of Islam, they insisted, had led to Breivik’s actions. Breivik, for his part, also hated the diagnosis. 'He claims to have rational arguments for his murder,' wrote Wivel. 'He wants to be declared guilty, not insane.'
Most important, as it turned out, the judges, too, were unhappy with the first psychiatric report. So in December, in a remarkable deviation from standard practice, they asked for a whole new report by two different doctors. Wivel quotes Norwegian journalist Jon Hustad, who wrote bluntly that 'the judges gave in to political pressure.' That second report, whose conclusions were made public last week, gave the Left, Breivik, and the judges exactly what they wanted: a declaration of sanity. On, then, to the trial, which begins today."
