The justification of one crime, or another
[ Home ]Death penalty request for US soldier over Afghan massacre on March 11, Sergeant Robert Bales is accused for killing 16 villagers including women and children.
In this title which appeared on my twitter today, "massacre" is certainly the bigger tragedy in the sentence, although I do not intend to go for a deeper investigation whether the criminal deed is personal or governmental (see link above for more details). The debate is vapid because it seems very obvious to me that both the individual and the authorities are accountable for such a crime. Crime is to Punishment what Fact is to Consequence: a track most natural. However, we as people all have difficulties separating different factors in one single case. The massacre is not the only crime; death penalty is another that we are fighting hard against. But what is there to justify it? The government has not banned it completely? Or we as members of the public sometimes also demand such punishment to those who cause us pain and suffering?
It may sound cruel to the victims - innocents and even women and children, and their families - if we hold the soldier accountable yet without a maximum punishment that exists such as a death penalty which is probably what they expect as justice. At the same time it is also cruel to realize the very fact that one crime can sometimes justify another with the request or permission of victims in the name of justice. It is happening today for the massacre on March 11, it also happened yesterday when the war took place in that country in the name of those innocent victims on September 11.
It continues on and on until we finally accept the unacceptable: that there is no justice by being unmerciful to the unmerciful. We are not requiring justice but fairness unless we are willing to be merciful to the unmerciful. But justice is different from fairness. It is broader love yet less lovely, less empathetic and much colder.
How can we hold those who cause trouble accountable and bring justice to victims? How do we position ourselves between sympathy and judgement? These are to me the most cloudy questions.
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