Thursday 16th May

Last night (Tuesday) we were witness to the rather unedifying spectacle of the (estranged) father of Tia Sharp declaring that her murderer should not only serve the 38 years he was handed down but then be taken out and hung.  The next day the papers were full of the quote knowing it hits the spot with many of their readers, for whom, like the papers they read, everything is indeed black and white.  While having no sympathy for Tia’s murderer and also acknowledging that there is indeed nothing that can ever bring back a murdered child, one has to question the wisdom of the media in giving so much prominence to a victim’s relative.

The Law is the Law and Justice, while imperfect, must be administered by those with calm heads who can carefully consider all the evidence and decide on the punishment they consider appropriate.  What the victim’s relatives or me or you or anyone else thinks might be a more suitable punishment should have no bearing on the case.  In fact it could be argued that for very good reasons the victims (and families of victims) views must have been distorted and prejudiced by the effect the crime had had on them and are therefore the very worst people to decide the punishment.  This is not to say that the victims do not deserve some sort of closure, some feeling that the guilty have been apprehended and tried.  Justice must always be transparent to be believed.

It has been a worrying trend that the media, in particular the tabloids, always interview the victim’s families, often in a state of rage or grief, as if they are in some way experts on Justice.  Inevitably the victims and their families (especially of more heinous crimes) think that the punishment is too light.  But why not go the whole populist hog and let them decide the punishment and pull the trapdoor too, and let us televise it so that us armchair judges can feel good about those awful people out there at last getting their just desserts.  Worryingly we are moving inexorably in that direction, but victim’s justice will be no justice at all – witness the vigilante mobs when a known paedophile is identified by the tabloids.