Psychiatry May Also Face Scrutiny at Norway Killer's Trial - NYTimes.com
Psychiatry May Also Face Scrutiny at Norway Killer’s Trial
By J. DAVID GOODMANAlexandra-Maeva Norya Peltre described her escape from Anders Behring Breivik, during which she was shot in the leg. She is set to testify against him at his trial, which begins next week.
After an earlier psychiatric report declared him to be a paranoid schizophrenic living in a “delusional universe,” a second evaluation by Norwegian psychiatrists released on Tuesday found Anders Behring Breivik, the anti-Muslim extremist who methodically killed 77 people in Oslo last year, to be legally sane, according to Norwegian officials.As recently as last month, prosecutors in Norway said that Mr. Breivik would likely be placed in involuntary psychiatric care because he was considered psychotic.
But that approach appeared to be based on the first report, conducted by two psychiatrists in a court-ordered assessment. The new evaluation, also ordered by the court, followed widespread criticism of the earlier finding. The discrepancy between the two findings was not immediately explained.
The clinical disagreement prompted some Norwegian news media to speculate that the methods of psychiatric evaluation would also be put on trial along with Mr. Breivik when hearings begin next week.
The Norwegian daily, Aftenposten, said that the divergent evaluations presented the court with a unique challenge. Sven Torgersen of the University of Oslo told the paper that he anticipated that the trial would likely become, at least in part, a discussion of psychiatry.
Mr. Torgersen also told the news site, Global Post, that Mr. Breivik’s insistence on his own sanity could be an effort to influence the court. “It’s very dangerous to say, ‘I’m very satisfied to be declared insane.’ Because then I’m sane. That’s the paradox,” he said.
Indeed, Mr. Breivik’s lawyer said his client was “pleased” with the new result and that he would testify at trial that he has “regret that he didn’t go further,” the BBC reported.
Mr. Breivik has also been vigorously declaring his sanity, claiming in a letter last week that to be confined to a mental hospital would be “the ultimate humiliation,” according to excerpts published by Reuters and other news outlets. “To send a political activist to a mental hospital is more sadistic and evil than to kill him! It is a fate worse than death,” he wrote.
If found to be mentally fit for trial, he could face up to 21 years in prison. A finding that he was insane would likely result in three-year terms of psychiatric care, which could be extended, The Associated Press reported.
One of his victims, Alexandra-Maeva Norya Peltre, escaped after being shot in the leg. Now 18 years old, she returned to Utoya Island with a video crew from Reuters and described the scene of mayhem during which she said her eyes met with those of Mr. Breivik as he methodically tracked and killed young people at a political camp, even as some attempted to flee into the water.
“He was looking right at me and I just remember — poof! I had a hole in my leg,” she said, “and I started running.”
No comments:
Post a Comment