I had just arrived home from Taiwan when I first heard about the extremely bizarre incestuous case of 73 year old Austrian man Josef Fritzel. Even typing his name sends a shiver down my spine. I was tired as hell and I had just dropped my bags and was about to head into my room when my boyfriend gasped in horror. I reckon by now a lot of people despite the initial shock and anger have already gotten over it. I don't mean disregarding it, but more like accepting the reality and moving on to focus on other daily happenings. I find it hard to do so. Ever since I read about it I got more and more intrigued and disturbed by it. I believe that by now I have read each and every article that had been published on the internet. I have even subscribed to the 'daily fritzl updates' on google. Yeah, you heard me. Reason being, I have always been interested in the human mind. I am aware that I should have taken a Psychology major and I am not quite sure why I didn't. I am perpetually curious about why we think the way we do, and what affects the way we see things. I want to, from articles, learn what drove this man, or should i say, beast, to committing such an act. Beyond all this insanity is messed up and disturbed man who clearly had a vicious and traumatizing childhood. No man of the sane mind would perform something so inhumane as that. It is honestly the most disturbing story i have read in the last decade or so. I wish someone would buy me a ticket to Austria, guarantee that I'd never get caught and send me on a mission to kill this guy. He is the most despicable being of the century. Sure, he blames his mother, the Nazis as well as Hitler for his behavior. Control and respect of the authority was what he believed in. At this point, honestly, I couldn't care less about what he has to say. His lawyer is defending him, saying that he should seek medical attention and that he belongs in the mental institution and not prison. Being his lawyer must be tough. Where do you draw the line? How do you force yourself to forget that your client is the current most notorious monster? Plenty of people must hate him for trying to defend him, including myself. I wish he'd get thrown in jail alongside of Fritzl.
There is one thing we should all ponder about though. That is, where do we draw the line when it comes to committing a crime and insanity? Sure, people like Josef Fritzl most definitely have an unstable mind, but if every case of insanity-led-crimes allow for a softer prosecution, we are allowing more cases in relation to this arise. Should we then be allowed to assault whoever made us sad and depressed and blame it on our unstable heads? How do we tell right from wrong? How do we justify such cases? I have been thinking about this but I haven't quite found an answer.
5 comments:
I agree, excellent point - where to draw the line between insanity and malevolence is one of the most difficult problems facing criminal law. For any given criminal case, it likely comes down to how well a lawyer can argue for insanity. This is a very interesting, even if a little vengeful, blog piece..
I feel that it is really scary to have such a person around. A point to serious insanity. Thinking of it, if the daughter was us, how would we have felt. It was such a terrible thing. The guy should not be spared but that would not be even able to bring back anything for the daughter.
samantha
in the case of insanity, the argument is, really, that you are so sick that you are unable to form the requisite intent.
There are some who aren't really insane, legally speaking. Granted, it takes a certain amount of insanity to do what this **** did, but there are criminals who are highly intelligent and come up with very detailed plans to reek as much havoc as they possibly can. There is no way to "cure" criminals such as this. Allowing them to plead insanity only guarantees that they will be back on the streets because sometimes they are more then intelligent enough to fool the mental health professionals into believing that they are "cured".
this man, however, does not even deserve the insanity plea.
God. I hate that man. Fact is most criminals think that they are always right. Their crime is not a crime, in fact an act of redemption and mercy to their victims. Sad to say we don't live in a perfect world.
It must take a really really mentally unstable mind to commit such an act. I doubt any man of the sane mind would even be able to think of such a thing. I agree whole-heartedly that he deserves to be put away (a nicer way to put -he should be hung), but some might argue that if he is indeed proven to be mentally unfit and unstable but still face severe penalties, then how would lawyers defend any case of insanity in the future?
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