A jeweler kills an escaping robber in Nice, and ignites a debate about
how to handle crime in France. "Revenge
is a kind of wild justice," said Francis Bacon, "which the more a
man's heart runs to, the more ought law to weed it out." But what if that
law, far from weeding it out, fertilizes and irrigates it by excessive leniency
towards criminals?
In France the current minister
of justice, Christiane Taubira, is determined to reduce the number of
law-breakers sentenced to imprisonment, despite a recent steep rise in
burglaries. By no means does all of the French public approve. Many want severe
and unequivocal punishment of criminals, in the absence of which they
approve—with varying degrees of reluctance or enthusiasm—of victims taking the
law into their own hands.
This was illustrated to
perfection recently in the case of Stéphan Turk in Nice. Just over a week ago,
the jeweler, of Lebanese extraction, shot dead one of the two armed robbers who
had threatened him with what looked like an automatic weapon. Mr. Turk pulled
the trigger as they were making their escape, having relieved him of money and
jewels. Mr. Turk was subsequently arrested and charged with voluntary homicide.
....To Read More....
No comments:
Post a Comment