The Importance of Distinguishing Contexts

There is increasingly good evidence that societies that practice restorative justice have lower crime rates. Instrumentally we might have a reason not to blame, but as a society we may have a moral obligation not to blame in certain cases. The perpetrators although they committed terrible acts against another were also victims. They were victims of terrible abuse themselves. Arguably we have failed all children who grow up in that way and given that we collectively have some responsibility for that we ought to think about whether it's appropriate to blame them when they later commit crimes.