Insanity defense
Is this a great deal or what? If you're a militant activist, you can assassinate the leading candidate for prime minister in your country and change the course of European history -- have a bigger impact, in other words, than most activists could dream of in ten lifetimes -- and you only have to spend 12 years in a Dutch jail (which, I suspect, is not likely to be a hellhole). ... Volkert van der Graaf was given this ludicrous, Euromoronic sentence for killing Pim Fortuyn, the idiosyncratic anti-multicultural Dutch politician. The Dutch three-judge panel, according to the NYT, said they were "persuaded that Mr. van der Graaf was not likely to repeat his crime." But isn't the relevant question whether someone else very much like Mr. van der Graaf is now likely to repeat his crime? ... Among the lessons the twentieth century teaches us, one is surely that assassinations work -- maybe not in the long-term (centuries), but in the medium term (decades). You're not supposed to say this. It's a bit like admitting that most great popular music is made on drugs. But Oswald, Sirhan, Ray, Amir, van der Graaf -- name five other men who have done more to alter the course of history (for better or, in this case, worse) in their lifetimes. You'd think the Dutch judges would recognize this and adjust the punitive calculus accordingly. Instead, they've made an offer many ineffectual-yet-earnest activists may find hard to refuse. ... 1:07 A.M.
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