Compassion

[alitheapipkin]

So the Lockerbie bomber is being released on compassionate grounds so he can die at home with his family. This will no doubt cause considerable consternation to some, such as Hilary Clinton, while others doubt he was ever guilty in the first placeI don't know whether he was responsible for all those deaths or not, what I do know is that compassion

Comments

[mcwoof]

I so agree with you. This was the ONLY decision that was possible once his illness was discovered to be so far advanced. I listened to Kenny MacAskills' (Scottish Justice Secretary) and was delighted by how he explained what he'd been asked to consider, his decision on each item and how he arrived at that decision. I was really proud of him for standing up for two of the cornerstones of Scots Law, compassion and equal treatment to all.

[anthrokeight]

http://psychochicken.livejournal.com/257814.html

I commented on the above journal about this issue. I thought MacAskill did a nice job explaining his decision, which was probably right.

[alitheapipkin]

We will never overcome base hatred if we never overcome vindictiveness.

Exactly!

[evildrganymede]

I don't agree. If he did it, he should suffer and die behind bars. IMO it's not about being better than they are, it's about punishing the monsters that do these things. I see no reason to show compassion to someone who didn't give a damn about killing hundreds of innocent people and shattering the lives of their families forever afterwards. You shouldn't get a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card just because you're dying.

If he didn't do it, then this whole thing is a miscarriage of justice anyway, but I guess we're never going to find out if that's really the case or not

[alitheapipkin]

You are entitled to your opinion, Consty, but we already know we don't agree on this type of issue.

[evildrganymede]

Well, where's it going to end? I read something a few days ago about how the nazi-hunters were just giving up hunting people who killed hundreds or thousands of jews in the death camps in WWII because they were too old to throw in jail. I couldn't believe that - so now old age is an excuse to escape punishment for your crimes? Where's the justice there?

It stinks too much of caring for the criminal more than the victim.

[alitheapipkin]

I think we have different ideas of what constitutes justice.

This case isn't the same as that example because he has served a prison sentence and is only getting to go home to die.

Those men have had to live their whole lives knowing what awful things they did, if that hasn't been punishment for them, I don't see what locking them up when they have already lived long lives in freedom can achieve. Is that really justice, when they have already lived the lives they denied their victims??