The German Fuck You Principle

More stories where part of Europe shows itself to have delusions of enlightenment.

"Ex-German Terrorist Walks Free After 26 Years in Prison"

"[Christain]Klar has been in prison since his arrested onNov. 16, 1982. Ten years later, he was sentenced to six concurrent lifesentences, as well as individual 15-year, 14-year and 12-year sentences."

"German law is based on the principle ofrehabilitation and it is very common for convicted murderers to serveless than 20 years for life sentences. Several other former members ofthe Red Army Faction have also been released."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470284,00.html

You may recall that, for a time, the maximum Josef Fritzl could have gotten for his apparent crimes, was 15 years.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353338,00.html.

That included considering the forced imprisonment, rape, etc., of his daughter. His case, though, is set in Austria.

Recently, Austrian prosecutors were able to charge him with murder, a crime for which he could get life, if convicted. Given that Fritzl's in his 70s, while a life sentence would be right in principle, I must concede that it's a moot point to argue that he should serve more than 20 years, let alone life, in prison. It's also moot because he'll probably be released withing 10 years, even if he's convicted on multiple charges.

At this time, I'm not able to find a story which says exactly when the murder charge was made, but I am quite certain it did not happen at the beginning of the coverage of the case. Back then, 15 years was the maximum allowable sentence for the other crimes Fritzl's alleged to have committed.

There are also two cases of German women convicted of killing their children, ranging in ages from infant to 2 years.

In the more recent case, the woman, Monika Halbe ". . . was sentenced to four years and three months in prison by the court in the western town of Siegen.' Also mentioned in the article is the other case, where the German '...woman in eastern Germany was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her babies."

"She had buried them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the Polish border."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7759055.stm

There's also this story, which I haven't read in full yet, but I did see this at a glance.
"The twin horrors have many Austrians wondering if their justice system is harsh enough on society's most outrageous offenders."

Let us learn of the harshness that is the Austrian justice system.

"Although both Wagner and Leidolf were convicted of murder in the1983-89 slayings at Vienna's Lainz Hospital and sentenced to lifeimprisonment, in Austria that maximum penalty typically means 15 yearsof incarceration. Like other European nations, Austria does not havethe death penalty."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/17/news/Austria-Nurse-Killings.php

I'm not a death penalty proponent. In fact, I'm against it. I was even against the hanging of Saddam Hussein, but the aforementioned German principle on rehabilitation of murderers, despite the heinousness of their crimes, and the pattern of 15 years as the actual time most people sentenced to life imprison will face if convicted in Austria, according to the above link, speaks terribly to what at least two European nations' concepts of justice are.