If this is a sign of mental illness, do you really think this man should be punished deejay64?

Isn't that making a victim of a victim? Let's say his child, for whom we all feel sorry, had not died but had lived to have children of her own. Would people be baying for her blood if she turned out to be mentally ill herself, because of her childhood experiences? What sort of childhood did this man have? What made him so sick that he could kill his daughter in this way?

The trouble is, if we, supposedly as rational human beings, seek to punish those who are deluded, doesn't that make us as bad as the religious who see people as "sinful"?

I'm not saying I know what should be done, but is punishing someone like this the answer? Of course, if locking him up in prison is the only way to stop him a) having more children and b) subjecting any he already has to this sort of abuse, then perhaps it is justified. I don't know. *shrugs*