The Weight of Glory – C. S. Lewis (1980)
Lewis goes on to say that if one was really not to blame then there is nothing to forgive and that often asking for forgiveness is more about asking for our excuses to be accepted … and moving on.
It is regularly a human trait that we can find excuses or justifiable cause for most things that we do on this dance through life, there are even some that are accepted within the laws of most countries. Mitigating circumstances, things that whilst they are not unquestionable get-out-of-jail-free cards they are often taken into consideration alongside the evidence and could influence or reduce the rulings of the conviction.
One very controversial area regarding this is that of ‘Self Defence’. This is the justifiable act of using force as a means of protection, but what actually constitutes reasonable force is subjective. In some cases, there is abundantly clear evidence to support such a claim but at other times the facts are distorted depending on the perspective of the evidence given and given that jury members are compiled from a cross section of ordinary people then there could be many opinions as to the legitimacy of the claim.
There is often issues regarding how much weight should be placed on background circumstance, especially with regard to problems with the offender’s personal life which they, or their legal team cite as contributing factors that affected behaviour that was out of character for the offender. Although there is some credence to this when it is a first crime, I find it difficult to accept that it should continue to be so for repeated offenders but this seems to be a kind of standard approach, from what I have seem from sitting in public galleries of courts of law.
Time and time again on one occasion I listened to the defence lawyer offer family background circumstances as the reason for the offences that had been committed and the sentence be adjusted as a result.
I often wonder just how much weight can be levied on these sometime blatant ploys. I mean, surly there can only be so much that can be attributed to mitigating circumstances regardless who you are asking (God, the law, family, friends) to accept them as the cause for your actions … well I would hope so anyway.