Punishment for Looters?

For reasons that should be obvious, a society tends to accept as excuses only those conditions which it is possible for its more advantaged members to satisfy. Any of us, no matter how wellborn, can suffer mental disorder. And so it is common, once mental disorder of a certain sort has been established, to excuse or at least mitigate the moral or legal responsibility for actions performed under the influence of the disorder. Similarly, any of us can act in ignorance, and some kinds of ignorance can excuse or mitigate responsibility for consequences.

Many of us, however, have not been placed by our society in the position of being economically and culturally deprived or of risking such deprivation. And so we tend to take a tone of righteous indignation when it is even suggested that social (as opposed to psychological) disadvantage be considered a legitimate excuse for wrongdoing. Many well-intentioned liberals, for example, react in horror when representative members of a bla...