----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell, Steve" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 11:29 AM Subject: RE: UK refrain "Better a victim than a defender be."
> In a country so fond of the death penalty, this is more a procedural issue. . . . Making it a substantive issue is perilous. >Steve Russell A homeowner facing an armed intruder is not confronted with a "procedural issue," he is confronted with a substantive problem. This would be true even if the homeowner were a judge. Due process is what society owes the perp only after the crime is over and the perp arrested. If the victim were to submit, that would still not be "process." And if the victim uses the perfect level of force, that is not "process," either. The homeowner can only try to affect the outcome of the crime, almost always imperfectly, with the error strongly tending to be underreaction and victimization. Harsh punishment for overreactions, especially where a high background level of crime is allowed to exist, sends the message that the law prefers that homeowners underreact, i.e. submit to crime. It is this notion that Americans find so repugnant. Norman Heath _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
