Justice delayed is justice denied, is a legal quote that has made its way through our popular culture lingo. Simply put, it means if there is legal redress and it is not provided in a timely manner, then it is like not getting it at all. The more we hear about this case, the more I think that the victims will not get what they deserve, which is to see their captor meet the cold, cruel hand of justice.
Right now, the media outlets are reporting that Fritzl is kept isolated from all the other prisoners, as he has received many death threats. I would imagine in the prison world, he would rate below a rapist and a child abuser. He spends his time happily watching the news for mentions of the crime and biographical sketches of his life. If that is not the clinical definition of a narcissist, then I don’t know if that mental health disorder should be in the DSM-IV
Austrias justice minister Maria Berger is against a hard punishment for Josef Fritzl.
“15 years are enough. 20 years the maximum”, she says.
Austrias Interior Minister Günther Platter from the Peoples Party claimed a hard punishment for sex offenders. The Socialdemocratic justice minister disagrees.
The justice minister also criticizes the behaviour of Lower Austrias minister president Erwin Pröll (Peoples Party). “Pröll has obtruded himself to help the victims”, she moans in an interview of Austrias daily newspaper “Kurier”.
Really? That is too harsh for a man that repeatedly raped his daughter, kept her prisoner (all which really can’t be denied, since in other stories, he has admitted that she didn’t want it, and he couldn’t help himself and that he told them that the place was boobytrapped with gas and other explosives if they ever tried to leave. When looking at Austrian law, it seems that they are relatively soft on crime. While I am not proposing that we get all medieval on him, but we should take steps to insure that he doesn’t get out.
Looking at the Justice Minister, I know the law is supposed to be neutral and blind, but is the Justice Minister really saying that 1) helping the victims is a bad thing? The article says she is moaning about the help. I would expect a moan when you get hit in the stomach, have a stomach ache, or you are sick. She is complaining just a bit too much. 2) 15 years is really enough? I mean I would think that if you found him guilty (no easy feat after another story that I will post in a few minutes) that you would START with the amount of time that he held his family hostage. If you add on the death of the twin who he just got rid of like a ripped pair of pants in the incinerator, then there is no way that you can think that 15 or 20 years is enough for a man (again, I use that term very loosely) then why are we even talking about him getting out.
I am beginning to have my doubts about the legal system in Austria. This has the feeling that the legal system is going to fail the victims again and allowing what happened to them to happen all over again. Delayed and denied, indeed…
