Adriaan Vlok, the late South African apartheid-era police minister.
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Even incomplete or insincere apologies have restorative value.
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South Africans seem to be fascinated with the way in which spying is entwined in the country’s politics.
The courts are, or can be, theatres of remorse.
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In many legal jurisdictions of the world, including Australia, an offender’s remorse is a mitigating factor at sentencing. And yet how judges evaluate such expressions is unclear.
Remorse and contrition have a role that seems natural, but the justice system makes it difficult to apply.
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Remorse is a vital, but often overlooked and underused aspect of justice, for both the victim and the offender.