Warning: In case the title didn’t tip you off, this material is inherently morbid.
I was reading up on black metal music (why not?) and this quickly led me to the story of the band Mayhem, who are noted for a number gruesome occurrences.
One member of the band, named Dead, shot himself in the face, leaving a note apologizing for the mess, further explaining that his knife was too dull to finish the job. The lead singer came home and shot a few photos, one of which was apparently stolen and used for the cover of a bootleg album entitled ‘Dawn of the Black Hearts’. I originally read that the band released the photo, but alas they are not THAT metal. I’ll let you find the cover yourself.
Maniac, another member, wound up losing it completely and going to a mental institution These guys are all about monikers with self-fulfilling prophecies.
Euronymous, the band member that discovered Dead’s dead body, was murdered, and that’s how I found out about Norway’s loose sentencing.
Varg Vikernes, the man who killed Euronymous can openly talk about the murder he committed and certainly does so in explicit detail here: http://www.burzum.org/eng/library/a_burzum_story02.shtml
Now I’m not encouraging anyone to murder anyone else, I certainly don’t plan on it, this is all tongue-in-cheek for me, but as an American, I was surprised to find that full-life sentences are not common in much of the world, especially in parts of Europe. In Norway, the maximum sentence is 21 years and chances are you’ll only have to serve 14 of them. I’m sure that serving 14 years in prison in Norway is no picnic, but this guy has made it through alright, and he will be out in the near future in his mid-30’s with lots more life to live (assuming someone doesn’t try to kill him). He’d surely be a hit on the metal scene if he chose to resume a career in that genre, but according to his writings, he doesn’t intend to exploit his notoriety.
It just boggles my mind that a known killer can be set free in his lifetime. Though I know that many murderers are ‘on the loose’, it still seems strange that ‘the systems’ could be so much more lenient. I’m not a big fan of death sentences, though it’s surely the most economical route, since in the US system, tax payers must provide the money for room and board, security and medical for criminals. (EDIT: My assumption was wrong. Executions are actually more expensive than duration of life sentences! …so much for assumptions.) But duration of life sentences seem to be a decent middle-ground. Well different strokes for different folks, i.e. countries/cultures.
(EDIT: Actually, prison in Norway is sounding better and better… Especially if you serve it at Bastoey Island Prison.
Though I doubt a murderer would be that fortunate.
Filed under: Seoul Days | Tagged: black metal, death sentence, Euronymous, life sentence, Mayhem, murder, Norway, research, Varg
Actually, I think that in the US it costs more to execute people than it does to keep them in jail for life.
Someone once said that a society can be judged by how well they treat their worst citizens. I guess Norway is doing pretty well.
Hot damn! You’re right… I guess I should have done some more research! Whoops!
For example,
“Florida calculated that each execution there costs some $3.18 million. If incarceration is estimated to cost $17000/year, a comparable statistic for life in prison of 40 years would be $680,000.”
(The Geography of Execution… The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America, Keith Harries and Derral Cheatwood 1997 p.6)
I’ll have to edit that…
the singer didnt find DEAD dead. DEAD was the singer. it was the guitar player Euronymous.
Wtf? You think life imprisonment is a fair and wonderful thing?
Look at it this way:
You are 18 and you kill someone, then you have to spend the next 60 years if your life in jail… That means, you spend 2x your age at the time you committed a crime in jail.
That is also assuming that the person who committed the crime doesn’t change from ever being a ruthless killer. After 20 years say, youchange and become a good human being, but then… you’re still stuck in jail for the rest of your life… Wtf?
Notanidiot does raise an interesting point. Many changes do occur over the course of a person’s life. And fuckyoucunt.co is such an adorable website. I’m sold! Vikernes is still in jail btw.