The sentence of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

under Norwegian law is restricted to the military penal code (''e.g.'' for aiding the enemy during a time of war). In the civilian penal code, a law passed in 2002 allows for an indeterminate penalty that could, in theory, result in life imprisonment. The first Norwegian prisoner ever sentenced to the 21 years' preventive detention ( no, 21 års forvaring) was Viggo Kristiansen, who was convicted of murder and rape.

Maximum penalty under Norwegian law

There are three types of maximum penalty laws: * The maximum penalty under the military penal code is life imprisonment. * The maximum determinate penalty (civilian penal code) is 21 years' imprisonment, but only a small percentage of prisoners serve more than 14 years. Prisoners will typically get unsupervised parole for weekends after serving a third of their sentence (a maximum of 7 years) and can receive early release after serving two thirds of their sentence (a maximum of 14 years). In 2008, to fulfill its requirements under the

Rome Statute The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

, Norway created a new maximal penalty of 30 years for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

. * The indeterminate penalty (civilian penal code), called "preventive detention" (Norwegian: ''forvaring''), is set at up to 21 years' imprisonment, with no eligibility for parole for a time period of 14 years. If the prisoner is still considered dangerous after serving the original sentence, the detention can be extended by five years at a time. Renewal of the detention every five years can in theory result in ''actual'' life imprisonment. Preventive detention is used when the prisoner is deemed a danger to society and there is a great chance of them committing violent crimes in the future. However, after the minimum time period has elapsed, the offender can petition for parole once every year, and this may be granted if it is determined that they are no longer a danger to society.

List of people sentenced to preventive detention in Norway

This is a partial list of people sentenced to ''Preventive detention'' in Norway since its introduction in 2001. As of 2011, there are 76 offenders that are serving a sentence of preventive detention.

References

External links

* Ila priso
Preventive Detention - Factsheet
{{World topic, Life imprisonment in, noredlinks=y, title=

Life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Law of Norway no:Forvaring