On Tuesday, I read a New York Times online report about a press conference held by Geir Lippestad, the defense lawyer for admitted Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.I wish she had written "confessed" instead of "admitted," or left "admitted" out altogether until Breivik does confess, in the manner I outline below. I wish she had been strong enough (as I was, in my humble capacity as an unknown blogger, where I simply write, with no qualifier here: "[T]he Norwegian murderer went on his rampage on the Utoye island summer camp." We know he's a mass murderer. We don't need (or require) his admission.
And Breivik is not admitting that he likes coffee, or that he vacations at those lovely Norwegian fjords. Anyone can admit anything (usually trivial). What we require now is a confession, a court-of-law confession of guilt. A confession is heavy-handed. It is the seal of recognizing, at least in front of a judge and jury and the public, that one's behavior is bad enough (horrific enough, as in Breivik's case) to warrant a public prosecution.