Punishment Optional

My father used to tell me that if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. When that phrase later became famous, I wondered who'd overheard my dad.

In Norway, however, it turns out that "doing the time" is optional: About 20% of convicted criminals simply fail to show up to serve their sentence. And the reason's not far to see:

The dilemma facing the prison authorities is that failure to show up at prison is not yet illegal. Although Parliament has passed new legislation making it a criminal offence to skip prison, the law has not yet been implemented and until it is, prison authorities can do nothing but hope that the criminals will eventually show up at the prison gates.

Some system. From tomorrow's Aftenposten.