Crime is always “news”, and this unfortunate case has had a lot of recent coverage:
Police urge killer: ‘Give yourself up’
Convicted killer Phillip Layton Edwards, 33, is still on the run after allegedly kidnapping 2-year-old Gabriel Donnelly from the child’s house in Panmure about 12.45pm yesterday.
The toddler, the son of one of Edwards’ friends, was reunited with his mother yesterday.
Last year, Edwards was released from jail amid warnings by the Parole Board that he was prone to violence and suffered serious mental health issues.
He had been serving a nine-year term for the manslaughter of interior designer and former television host David McNee, 55.
Handling the balance between incarceration and rehabilitation is an almost impossible task. Mistakes are inevitable, and sometimes a person released on parole goes on to commit further horrible crimes. In such cases armchair critics spring up everywhere to criticise the professionals who are trying to make these very difficult decisions.
I’m pleased to see that Labour has not attempted to politicise the current example. The headline of this post is exactly what we are not going to see (apologies for the deception).
Compare with the behaviour of National and John Key, who wallowed endlessly in the similar Graham Burton case:
Labour should make public apology for killing
Clark’s ‘new era’ of accountability fails
National attacks Labour over Burton case
and so on, and so on…
Hey journalists – imagine the outrage if David Shearer called for National to make a “public apology” for the behaviour of Phillip Edwards! Then ask yourselves why we accept such crap from National, when we shouldn’t accept it from anyone…
(I note that in calling for the de-politicisation of crime I will be accused of politicising crime – c’est la vie.)
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