In reporting for Tuesday’s column, “Norwegian Crime and Punishment,” I was careful to triple check reports that Norway’s maximum sentence for any crime is 21 years. That’s how I found out about Norwegian Justice Minister’s Knut Storberget 2007 proposal to extend Norway’s absolute maximum criminal sentence of 21 years to 30 years for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism. But with Oslo authorities telling journalists in Oslo the maximum sentence facing accused shooter Anders Behring Breivik was 21 years — which could be extended by five years if he is deemed likely to reoffend — and no reports found in a nexis search of U.S. or British papers that the 2007 measure had passed or that Breivik faced a 30-year maximum sentence, I assumed it failed.

This CNN story is an example:

Police spokesman Henning Holtaas told CNN that the suspect was charged with two acts of terrorism, one for the bombing and one for the mass shooting. In Norway, which does not have the death penalty, the maximum sentence for such a charge is 21 years. However, the court could impose an extension, if the person were deemed still to be a threat after having served the sentence, he said.

AFP/Getty Images

The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Sun-Times, National Public Radio, Agence France Presse and The Australian reported on the 21 year maximum sentence. The Los Angeles Times reported on Norwegian anger at the 21-year cap. Peter O’Neil, Postmedia News Europe Bureau for Canadian newspapers reported the following:

But to keep him in jail for the rest of his life, in the country’s famously comfortable prison system, would be unheard of in the peaceful, egalitarian country of five million people, said Carol Sandbye, a lawyer who works in Norway’s office of public prosecutions. She said the country’s General Civil Penal Code gives the state prosecutor the right to seek an extension of sentences beyond the 21-year maximum for up to five years at a time, on the condition that the inmate is deemed to be a “high risk” of repeating serious offences. Sandbye, who was fielding media calls at the Oslo Police District office Sunday, said it’s therefore technically possible to keep extending a sentence indefinitely.

Now the Los Angeles Times reports, “The high death toll in the attacks has led some Norwegians to question the adequacy of the nation’s penal system. Under current law, the maximum sentence for most crimes is 21 years. Norway has no death penalty or life imprisonment. Recently the legislature approved a 30-year sentence for crimes against humanity, and officials are considering charging Breivik under that statute.”

I stand corrected. According to this report, Breivik may face a maximum sentence of 30 years — although apparently Oslo authorities were unaware of the law earlier in the week. Now, it is possible that if convicted, Breivik would serve as much as 144 days per victim.

Or maybe that 21 years is the maximum, because Reuters reported, “The maximum sentence for terrorism in Norway will shortly be raised to 30 years under a decision by parliament. Breivik cannot be tried under that law which has not yet entered into force.”