A number of years ago, Tookie Williams was on death row in CA, for killing people in cold blood. While waiting for his turn in the chair, he started to do outreach work with gangs and turned a number of teens and young adults back on the normal civil path.
So what to do with this Tookie? Let him go, because now he’s turned a new leaf and is doing much good and if we cook him, his outreach will stop?
Or do we fry him because of his past deeds?
It was being debated on talk radio, and one of the callers made a very good point. He said forgiveness is G-Ds department. G-d gave us the job of ensuring that justice is served.
A life was taken, and our responsibility is to be sure that the life does not go without having justice served. Its not about feeling sorry for the criminal or about revenge. Its about justice and about making sure that people know that rules of society are meant to be followed. And if those rules are broken, there is a steep price to pay.