Acceptance of Sharia-style dispute resolution as a partial punishment sets a dangerous precedent.
When a Berlin court reduced the manslaughter sentence of a Somali man because he had paid ‘blood money’ to his victim’s family, the story passed largely under the radar of the media. Yet it speaks to a dangerous development.
Western Europeans are growing increasingly alert to the threat of ‘two-tier justice’ and ‘two-tier policing,’ where ethnicity or political opinions (or both) serve as the basis for differential treatment within criminal law. This observation could be applied to all levels of decision-making, ranging from police deployments and arrests to bail conditions and sentencing.
