Ratko Mladich & Muamar Ghadaffi. One caught & brought to "justice", the other not yet. How do you measure justice against crimes so heinous? More to the point, how do you punish?
Both men seem to be guilty of repeated, despicable, acts of great cruelty against hundreds / thousands of their fellow men, women, & children. It seems right that they should be held to account in a court of law & dealt with in a fair and legal way. In so doing we pat ourselves on the back and believe that we have been honourable & moral. We are not like them, we would never behave as they have done.
My first point is, why is it, that by an large, it is men who behave in this unbelieveably cruel way? What is it about the male psyche that allows them to suspend all of the normal inhibitors of gross cruelty & violence? I don't know. But it seems to me that we should be trying to understand the triggers & motivators of this type of behaviour, because there have been, are, and will be a lot more of men of this type in the world. Unless we understand them, we will never be able to deal with them & protect the poor unfortunate people whom they subject & torture.
A lot of it seems to be to do with getting & retaining power & wealth. Once achieved it seems that a certain personality type will do anything to retain it - To the point where it is ridiculous. How much money, for example, can one human being or even his family spend in a lifetime? They are not satisfied with millions, they steal billions from their people. People who are all too often living in abject poverty. Just like us, dictators cannot take money or possessions with them when they die. None of us actually own anything, we just have the use of it while we are alive.
My second point is what on earth should we do with men who are capable of this behaviour? Is there really any punishment which reflects the crimes they have committed other than capital punishment? If we bring such punishment back, where will it end & who will administer it? Do we really want to be like the Americans with all the huge flaws in their death penalty? So, do we just lock them away so they cannot harm anyone else & pay the huge costs involved in that?
Do we believe, as a society, that any criminal, however bad, should be given the opportunity to repent & be rehabilitated? Should these people be forced to come face to face with people whose lives they have destroyed in some form of restorative justice? Truth & Reconciliation as the South Africans did under Nelson Mandela. Are we capable as Nations of reaching any consensus on what should be done?
Finally, are we really sure, that given the right set of circumstances, each and every one of us might not behave in similar ways? I hope the answer is no in my case, but I can't be sure. If that is true, do I have the right to judge?
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