JR8 wrote:x9200 wrote: For example: in the Western democracy it is formally acceptable that because of some loopholes in the legal system a person, who beyond any reasonable doubts murdered somebody and will do it once and once again, gets away and kills some few equally innocent members of the society. For me, this sort of construct is a pure hypocrisy. Personally, I'd rather see the murderer detained violating his rights than some more people murdered.
Now, I realize this is not a perfect analogy but nevertheless this is a very similar mechanism. Nothing is perfect. Solutions vary.
I'm not sure who finds it 'acceptable'. You might have a trial judged upon the evidence, and the evidence being insufficient to reach a decision, and that 'letting-off'/release later considered erroneous; but the alternative? Locking up people without a judicial process and a fair trial, 'just coz you think they maybe did it'? Tyranny ripe for abuse, surely?
Oh, I see, it's like North Korea and Singaporeans queuing for a few hours each day to pay respect to LKY are just afraid to be jailed or executed. Tyranny?
"Mistakes" happen all the time in all the Western (and other) countries. They are unavoidable. Apparently it is formally (you missed this word) acceptable as there is no better solution based on the Western democracy principles. How it is handled (all the processing rituals) is just some SOP based on some logic and social agreement. This does not make the process fair and fault-proof.
JR8 wrote:Trial by jury, innocent until proven guilty etc isn't perfect, but I'd rather live under that system than any other.
That's the whole issue of people living in one system and being uber convinced this is the only right and acceptable way. What is acceptable or not is largely based on the environment inside one was brought up.
JR8 wrote:p.s. 'Personally, I'd rather see the murderer' > 'Personally, I'd rather see the alleged murderer', etc. The leap of words is striking.
Alleged, as of the formal requirement but often defying common sense.
Example from my country, fully Western democratic approach, just some mistakes resulting from the complexity of the legal system while being transformed to fit to the one of EU.
At one point the capital punishment was removed from the penal code and replaced by a prison term. All who queued up to be hanged were given 25 years in prison. Now, some of the convicted murderers already served it. Among them there was a pedophile who killed 3 teenagers and openly declared to some people (i.e. journalists) that he did not change his habits. Also the prison staff confirmed about his tendencies very much still alive. You could not force him to go under professional psychiatric evaluation needed to detain him again and placed in a hospital and he served his term. He was a free person with full rights restored.
You think it is not that common (leaving aside that the frequency does not justify anything)? Think what happens when Breivik will have his 21y term completed.
So this is one of the cases where "just coz you think they maybe going to do it again". I am very sure you would show your trust in a Western democratic legal system and let him be your neighbor.