I'd question the requirement for equal standards of punishment - I'd say, rather, equal standards of justice; incorporating both understanding/mercy and retribution/punishment.
The same offence may be committed for different reasons, and merit different degrees of punishment, IMO. For example, a driver is speeding and - accidentally - kills a child; should it make a difference if the driver is an ambulanceman racing to the scene of an accident, a mother late to collect her child from school, or a crack dealer fleeing from the police? The crime is identical.
Also, however, IMO most people are unwilling to see 'their own kind' as wrong, in person. Most human societies categorise people - them and us, at different levels - and the more strong the identification with any particular group, the more any wrong committed by a member of that category will be personalised by other members.
Hence the abstract desire for retribution will be tempered by the identification: this person is like me, I could not do this terrible thing, so only some overwhelming cause could force them to do it, so they do not deserve such punishment. And when the identifying class is dominant in public life, media and government alike, then it's inevitable that the most 'popular' response will lean towards the merciful, rather than the condemnatory.
The flip side of this is, of course, the xenophobic wish to see immigrants (i.e. foreigners) at the root of every social ill - especially if for reasons of culture or colour they are clearly, visibly not 'us'... |
