May 4, 2008...12:21 pm
Josef Fritzl
I’ve just been reading this about Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who kept his daughter locked in a cellar for twenty four years, raped her and fathered her seven children. Apparently, if found guilty he could get fifteen years in prison.
Given that his daughter was held captive for nine years longer than this, and that the children that he fathered also suffered terrible abuse, I wonder whether a fifteen year jail term is appropriate.
People who are sent to prison in the UK for more than four years are eligible for parole after half of their time inside. If turned down, they are automatically released after two thirds of their sentence and then on licence in the community until three-quarters of the sentence has passed. If the same applies in Austria, presumably he could be realeased after 10 years (assuming he doesn’t die in prison before - he’s 73).
I’m not of the lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the key mindset. I believe that most prisoners can be rehabilitated (although maybe not Fritzl). And I’m definitely not saying that ten or fifteen years in prison is a walk in the park: if the prisons in Austria are like those in the UK, presumably Fritzl would be hated by the other prisoners and will suffer for what he has done.
But how ironic that the father may end up spending less time locked up than his daughter.
Sentencing guidelines are there for a reason of course, so I’m really not sure what the answer is.
Any thoughts?
4 Comments
May 4, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Hi SG. I am mostly like you, not totally “throw away the key”, but I do believe that the punishment should reflect the crime. Maybe sentencing guidelines need to accommodate the physical or emotional suffering by victims to a greater extent? Though sometimes, the “eye for an eye” part of me bubbles to the surface and thinks that some criminals should be punished by suffering what they have inflicted on their victims. Of course, this is utterly unacceptable because it would mean state-sanctioned torture and murder. But then I guess some so-called “liberal” and “advanced” “democracies” already practise these.
On a broader note, I feel more use should be made of community service orders, but they should be tailored to reflect the offence, not just used as a cheap source of labour for local authorities.
May 4, 2008 at 9:54 pm
The main problem with the Napoleonic Code of Justice (for that is what we have) is that a tariff is set and applied to a crime.
What happens when the tariff doesn’t accurately account for the awfulness of the crime?
In the UK the crime of genocide - believe it or not - carries the same weight of punishment as one single premeditated murder. This ridiculous situation drives me mad whenever I think of it.
May 5, 2008 at 7:03 am
As you say, fifteen years is considerably less than what he inflicted on his daughter and her children. Which is ridiculous. The only saving grace is that he will hopefully die in there before he is eligible for any kind of parole.
As for abuse from other prisoners: “…for his own safety…”.he’ll probably be kept in a cell of his own, separated from the other prisoners.
There’s an irony there.
May 5, 2008 at 9:28 am
I am of the lock-him-up-and-throw-away-the-key mindset…I can’t stand the thought that this man is locked away considerably less years than he locked his daughter away for. It makes me so so so mad when I hear criminals are given a sentence of ‘life’ when it’s not life atall, it’s fifteen years or something ridiculous like that. People do the crime, they should do the time.
That girl and her children will never ever fully recover (well, perhaps the younger children) so why does that man deserve to have any kind of life in the real world in fifteen years (if still alive)? And if I had my way, I’d put him in there with all of the other prisoners, why should he be protected, why should any of these sick b******s be protected? They can hand out the abuse, they deserve to take it now.
Sorry SG for doing a wee rant in your comments box, it’s not a rant at you it’s just me being mad at all the sickos out there like Josef Fritzl!
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