Early this year (2022), I discussed with a few friends about starting a daily group mindfulness session online. We have been practicing it on most of the weekdays since then. I was not sure if I was getting any benefit from it.
Then, in June 2022, I got the news on Oslo Shooting. It was a horrible action and the shooter was a radicalised Norwegian Muslim. Usually, I would have reacted to such an incident with intense hatred towards the perpetrator. However, this time was different. As soon as I came to know more about the shooting and the shooter, I felt a momentary intense sense of pity for the shooter. How loveless his life might have been. How abjectly depressing his life must have been. No sane and happy person decides to go and kill complete strangers. When I felt this, I thought do I want him to go free? And it took me a while to see the right logic.
Compassion for the criminal should flow in as naturally as compassion for anyone else. But does it mean that the criminal should get less or no punishment? I am no criminologist. I do not know what kind of punishment for the criminals is best for the society. Hence, I will let the law of the land follow its due course. Personally speaking, I would like the Oslo shooter to have the strictest punishment in some really bad jails (definitely not in Norway). But, I will still feel compassion for him for having a loveless life.
Compassion for a criminal does not mean the advocation of forgiveness. For example, a kid can be very nice and naive. But, if they, by mistake, touch fire then they will burn their hand. The fire does not decide to burn them not because they were a kid. Similarly, we can feel compassion for the criminal and, still, advocate for strict punishments.
