As Japan mournfully conducts the funerals of the children killed in the shocking school slaughter, a few questions (and a lot of anger) must be raised. 

    *  Modern civilization exempts people who are certified as being mentally unfit from being punished for their crimes  (the killer had previously been arrested for putting tranquillisers in teachers' tea -- effectively trying to drug them -- but was not charged because he sufferred "psychological problems").  How do our standards of "civil" behaviour and laws ensure that a criminal does not commit crimes again ?  I don't say that every "mentally unstable" person should be locked up in a hospital.  But "psychological problems" and certificates from pyschiatrists should not exempt a person from punishment for a crime he has committed.  How many times have criminals been freed on the grounds of being "mentally unfit" ?

    *  The killer wanted to commit suicide but failed in his own attempts.  He decided to attack students at an elite school so that he would be sentenced to death.  Should we accord him his death wish ?  Would it bring justice for the dead children ?  Isn't a death sentence a very easy way out for him ?  Is it justice ?

    * There have been a spate of senseless crimes -- violent crimes -- not just in Japan alone but in many other countries as well.  As the urban population density keeps going up, the stresses are building up on all people.  As people have more concerns, more desires they may lose sense of the value of relationships and other human beings.

For those who may have heard of it, yes I am leaving Oracle.