I think most European countries are hardly crawling under serial killing cases, which is why the life sentencing (which equals in most countries about 25 years of jail time) gets often shortened that way.
I wouldn’t qualify any jail time sentence of being light, but I may overvalue freedom compared to most.
We have in Denmark one life sentence, which is 16 years. This, though, includes several time shorteningsand so on, so in reality the time served can be much shorter. From 12 years a lot of prisoners are released from life sentencing.
In very rare cases, we have “forvaring”, which is what the prosecutor is seeking here, which is where the person is deemed too dangerous to be let out in the public - Ever. Basically, its a real life-sentence, which is very rarely used.
I’m pretty sure thats the “safe-custody” talked about here.
Indeed - Prison IS for rehabilitating in Denmark. That is why, when there is little chance of this, and a danger is percieved, the mentioned “forvaring” is taken into account.
This is the fundamental difference. US Prison are warehouses, there to segregate offenders from society for as long as possible. Rehabilitation is a secondary, or even tertiary concern.
This is a stupid system, but it’s what we have here.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that.
I don’t think I’d last very long in any jail, which is why I do everything I can to stay out.
I agree. It’s a difficult situation.
Thanks for the clarification.
So, the trial is nearly wrapped up.
All 36 witnesses in the trial have now been heard, leaving only the final summing-up speeches on 23 April. A verdict is expected on 25 April.
The witnesses included four women whom Madsen had tried to get to join him for a submarine trip in the days leading up to Wall’s death, as well as four of his former sexual partners, former friends, colleagues and interns in his space rocket project.
His wife, one of the defence’s most important witnesses, presented a doctor’s note that excused her from questioning.
There are more details in the article about Madsen’s thought process and the murder I won’t bother quoting here.
There were multiple targets? Yikes. As if it needed to be said, lock him up forever.
I didn’t read that article and I’m not sure I will because it just seems too gruesome. But…
Does this mean his wife didn’t testify, or that she just didn’t submit to cross examination? I have little sympathy for him, but I just think it would be cold for her to be his most important witness and then she shows up with a doctor’s note, as if she were in junior high or something.
Well if I was his wife I’d be a little peeved at his… chopping up an innocent woman and all the other crap he was involved in (it’s a lot of bad bad stuff on-line). I can’t even imagine how a spouse could begin to understand his obsession with rape and dismembership. I think that’s the best way she could make him understand how bad he hurt her as a spouse.
Well jeff, if you was his wife maybe he would’a stuck to only choppin’ up the guilty women, and perhaps even curtailed all the other crap he was doing online!
But the fact remains that you are not his wife! His wife is his wife, and I still don’t know if she didn’t testify for him or just sidestepped cross examination.
I’m just teasing you @jpinard. He is a monster, that’s for sure.
Thanks @kerzain for the update.
I’m sure a book will be written about this someday, and I will probably buy it.
I want to read the transcripts of all the testimony from the witnesses for the prosecution, as well as the defense.
I’m sure a book will be written about this someday, and I will probably buy it.
A movie will surely follow, and I won’t be watching it; I am completely grossed out as it is.
I am completely grossed out as it is.
Grossed out, for sure. But don’t you find this whole thing fascinating in some way?
Aren’t you curious as to what makes a guy like this do what he did?
I take it you don’t care for those true crime shows either? “Forensic Files” for instance. There always seems to be an interesting story behind nearly every murder.
I take it you don’t care for those true crime shows either? “Forensic Files” for instance. There always seems to be an interesting story behind nearly every murder.
I avoid true crime shows and rarely follow like real-life news stories for long too. Law and Order is as close as I got to kind of real stuff… I don’t have an interest for what makes this guy tick, but the idea of a homemade submarine and why it led to murder… I’d like a three paragraph summary but not really the whole journey.
I take it you don’t care for those true crime shows either?
I’m with Nesrie on this. I can watch the most outrageous horror movies and I’m all, whatever. But I find it uniquely excruciating to watch true crime stuff. Especially when it’s well done. The Onion Field and Zodiac, for instance.
But when that stuff is not well done, it’s especially excruciating. It actually makes me angry because it just feels so, I dunno…disrespectful. For instance, there’s a horror movie from last year called Wolves at the Door. It’s a typical dumb kind of movie about people in a house getting psycho-killer killed. But as I was watching it, I slowly realized it was specifically about the Manson murders. It just felt so crass. So gross.
So I’m not sure how I would feel about a movie about what happened to Kim Wall, even if it’s a good movie. I’m kind of dreading Tarantino’s Manson movie. Of course, I know I’ll see it. But I’m going to be mad if it sucks, and not just because it sucks.
-Tom
There’s this show on NBC, I think, some spin-off of Dateline or something? It has this somber looking dude in a vest in the promos, and the teasers for it are grossly exploitative. The show is always about some real-life crime, but they pour on the over the top emotional manipulation, turn tragedies into voyeuristic thrills, and generally, as you note, pretty much act as disrespectfully as one can.
Therein lies the problem with all reality based shows. They are always more about entertainment than edification.
Aren’t you curious as to what makes a guy like this do what he did?
In real life, isn’t the answer always “mental illness”? I don’t find any of this fascinating, only sad and horrible.