If anybody killed my child I'd want the killer's goolies (where applicable) cut off with rusty tinsnips and the living disembowelled body hung upside down in a public rubbish dump to slowly bleed to death while being abused by members of the public.
But that, I came to realise, was precisely why emotion should be kept out of justice. I know it feels wrong, that justice should be cold and free of emotion, but that is how it has to be.
I'm not often given to quoting Tolkien but one quote struck me hard when I first read The Lord of the Rings (aged 15) and it has stuck with me ever since:
"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
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