Compassion for the Cruel

Mikhail Lyubansky doesn’t condone vicious crime but feels compassion for its perpetrators. “I believe that no one is born wanting to rape and kill (psychopathy may be a special case) and the fact that some person has done so — perhaps multiple times — means that his/her life has been filled with so much pain that rape/murder was preferable to just carrying on. I don’t condone his/her choices and I don’t want to do anything to compromise the safety of others, but I feel compassion for the person who experienced such pain.” The death penalty is about retribution, not safety, he says.