Austria incest case revives prison term debate

Austria's justice minister, Maria Berger, said Wednesday the government will conduct a sweeping review of all sentencing laws and propose legislation doubling prison sentences for "especially dangerous" predators.

But Berger insists a more draconian approach probably wouldn't stop the next Fritzl.

"To this kind of perpetrator," she said, "the severity of the punishment means nothing."

Europeans frequently criticize the U.S. system, where first-degree murder and other heinous crimes are punishable by life without possibility of parole, or, in some states, death.

Many criticized this month's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld Kentucky's three-drug lethal injection method and prompted other states to take steps to resume executions, a practice considered barbaric in Europe.

In 2005, death penalty opponents succeeded in getting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's name stripped from a soccer stadium in his Austrian hometown because he refused to pardon a convict on California's death row.

But Europeans have also been rattled by some singularly horrific cases that have challenged their approach to crime and punishment:

• In Spain, groups representing victims of the 2004 Madrid commuter train terrorist bombings that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800 expressed outrage over last year's acquittal of the alleged ringleader, Rabei Osman. Although the three main figures were sentenced to tens of thousands of years in prison, four other top suspects got off with sentences of 10 to 18 years. Prosecutors are appealing Osman's acquittal.
• Belgium's notorious serial pedophile, Marc Dutroux, was on parole for raping schoolgirls when he committed a spree of child kidnappings, rapes and murders that eventually led to a life sentence in 2004. In theory, Dutroux eventually could come up for parole, though that's unlikely because a judge has pronounced him a danger to society and Belgium has toughened its parole rules.
• Britons still debate the handling of the infamous 1993 murder of 2-year-old James Bulger by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. They were tried as adults and jailed for the slaying, but released eight years later with new identities. Britain's maximum penalty for adults convicted of murder, rape or kidnapping is life imprisonment, but judges have broad discretion to decide whether to grant parole.

Guarnieri, the Italian justice system expert, said his country's approach reflects its Roman Catholic culture.

"There is an attitude to forgive," he said.

"If you read the newspapers or watch TV, every time there is a crime, the journalist tries to interview the victim and ask if they are forgiving. Always."

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