Return of the lynch mob

The reaction to the judicial decision that Learco Chindamo, the murderer of Philp Lawrence, can not be deported to Italy when he completes his jail sentence is quite appalling. Lawrence's widow says she is "devastated" by the decision, though she says she has tried to forgive Chindamo. However, the reaction of the media is a lot less balanced. Predictably, the Sun and the Hate Mail have called for the repeal of the Human Rights Act. The Telegraph hasn't expressed a strong opinion of its own, but the readers' comments on its report of the subject are bloodcurdling (and surprisingly poorly written -- isn't the Telegraph a posh people's paper any more?). Even the Guardian is struggling, with an opinion columnist saying that decisions like this make it hard to defend the Human Rights Act.

The politicians are even worse. We can ignore David Cameron's kneejerk reaction -- and maybe he will be too busy re-checking his list of NHS hospitals "under threat" to say any more on the matter. But it's depressing to see Jack Straw, the Minister formerly masquerading as a leftie, expressing his disgust at the decision, while a junior Home Office minister says that Chindamo has "forfeited his human rights".

There's no doubt that the murder of Philip Lawrence was an awful crime, and by all accounts Chindamo was a nasty piece of work at the time. But he was only 15, he's served his sentence, and his probable release next year reflects expert opinion that he is a reformed character. If he was unequivocally British, that would more or less be the end of it, aside from the fact that the gutter press would no doubt track him down and put his life at risk. But Chindamo happens to have been born in Italy, moving here only when he was five years old. He has no remaining connections with Italy and doesn't speak the language, so deporting him there would certainly be an unusual punishment, if not a cruel one.

One of the key reasons we have a justice system is to ensure that the victims of crimes are not the arbiters of punishment. I feel sorry for Mrs Lawrence, but if I feel "devastated" about anything, it's the cavalier disregard that the media and politicians show for this cardinal principle whenever it suits them.