Les Jones

News > Germany's Attitudes Towards Terrorism and Crime

Last week Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to give clemency to quadruple murderer and gang founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Some people in Schwarzenegger's hometown of Graz, Austria proposed removing his name from the local stadium. (He has since asked that his name be removed.)

German politicians and European politicians in general are generally against the death penalty, though it still has popular support in many European countries. They presumably prefer life imprisonment for serious offenses. At the same time politicians in Germany were arguing that life sentences were sufficient punishment other German politicians released a terrorist serving a life sentence for murder.

A Hezbollah militant sentenced to life in Germany for murdering a U.S. Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. jetliner has been freed, officials said.

The German government denied on Tuesday the release was related to the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq.

Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released Thursday and allowed to return to his native Lebanon on the next day, after qualifying for parole after 19 years in prison, said Ulrich Hermanski, spokesman for the North Rhine Wesphalia state justice ministry.

This is exactly why many people don't trust the approach to terrorism advocated by European and American liberals. They want to treat terrorism as a law enforcement problem, yet their soft stance on punishment doesn't inspire confidence. American liberals in particular want to treat terrorism as a law enforcement problem and treat law enforcement as a social justice program.