Justice long after the act

[Rheghead]

Can justice be ever served by prosecuting offenders many years after the crime was committed? Can we let off old Nazis but put away an old 'child abuser'?

Where do we draw the line?

[jjc]

Which 'justice': moral or legal?

Oh, and why is this an open poll? [para]

[Rheghead]

Which 'justice': moral or legal?

I will leave that one up to you on how you see it! :)


Oh, and why is this an open poll? [para]

Just to make it more interesting:evil

[Rheghead]

Does Pinochet deserve to be banged up? Is there any point in banging up an octagenarian?

If Hitler was living next door to Maggie Thatcher's old residence, should we give him a dawn raid?

[jjc]

I will leave that one up to you on how you see it!
Then there's no point in adding my vote to your poll...

Legal justice cares not what age the criminal is or how long ago they committed the crime.

Moral justice? Now there's a much deeper issue. If an eighty-year-old has felt guilt their entire lives for a 'crime of passion' they committed when they were fifteen is their any moral cause to lock them up for the remainder of their days - would prison punish them any more than they have already punished themselves? Is there any moral justice punishing a person in the grips of senile dementia for a crime they committed in a life they don’t even remember living?

What about ‘common justice’? If, as you hypothesise, Hitler was living next door to Thatcher wouldn’t there be a certain need for his victims and the families of his victims to see justice done even if he were a senile old man with no real quality of life anyway?

[rich62_uk]

Then there's no point in adding my vote to your poll...

Legal justice cares not what age the criminal is or how long ago they committed the crime.

Moral justice? Now there's a much deeper issue. If an eighty-year-old has felt guilt their entire lives for a 'crime of passion' they committed when they were fifteen is their any moral cause to lock them up for the remainder of their days - would prison punish them any more than they have already punished themselves? Is there any moral justice punishing a person in the grips of senile dementia for a crime they committed in a life they don’t even remember living?

What about ‘common justice’? If, as you hypothesise, Hitler was living next door to Thatcher wouldn’t there be a certain need for his victims and the families of his victims to see justice done even if he were a senile old man with no real quality of life anyway?

At least someone is making sense, thank you jjc......:grin: Trish.

[Rheghead]

Which 'justice': moral or legal?

I have had a think about it and I reckon that 'moral' justice applies in the spirit for which the poll was intended:p .

[wickerinca]

Then there's no point in adding my vote to your poll...

Legal justice cares not what age the criminal is or how long ago they committed the crime.

Moral justice? Now there's a much deeper issue. If an eighty-year-old has felt guilt their entire lives for a 'crime of passion' they committed when they were fifteen is their any moral cause to lock them up for the remainder of their days - would prison punish them any more than they have already punished themselves? Is there any moral justice punishing a person in the grips of senile dementia for a crime they committed in a life they don’t even remember living?

What about ‘common justice’? If, as you hypothesise, Hitler was living next door to Thatcher wouldn’t there be a certain need for his victims and the families of his victims to see justice done even if he were a senile old man with no real quality of life anyway?

How do we know that this hypothetical eighty-year-old has felt any guilt for his "crime of passion"?

[rich62_uk]

I want change my vote !

I voted that it depends on the case but now I want to vote that yes Justice can be served by prosecuting offenders long after the Crime.

Even if they have suffered from guilt and have lived their whole life atoning in some way, then that is for a court to take into account not me, I am not qualified to judge, seek out the truth, release or to administer punishment......Trish.:D

[Whitewater]

Nobody is too old to be prosecuted for a crime they have committed. However, if suffering from senile dimentia, what is the point, they do not remember what they have done, and are not aware of what is happening around them.

[weeboyagee]

When it comes to old men being finally charged for the attrocities against the Jews, when it comes to charges being brought against the generals and their officers for the genocide in the former Yugoslav absolutely justice is served long after the crime, but it will never be as effective in serving the public with satisfaction.

I still sometimes have that feeling of sorrow for those who have committed the act in a moment that ruins the rest of their life - but how unfortunate it is that sometimes their act ruins and deprives someone of their life - either physically or mentally. Justice - whether sooner or later has to demand a price for the crime.