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Paid His Debt?

Entry 27, on 2004-08-23 at 10:08:17 (Rating 2, News)

A member of the New Zealand Olympic boxing team caused a lot of controversy here recently because he had a previous conviction for the manslaughter of his daughter. He served his sentence and was later selected for the team, where he was eliminated in his first fight.

Many people thought having someone convicted of such a serious crime on our national team (especially in a sport with a rough reputation) wasn't a particularly good idea - maybe it was just as well he didn't do so well.

Its hard to get a good balance here, and I really don't know the answer. OK, he has "paid his debt" but that doesn't mean he didn't do the crime. In a time when image is everything I'm surprised he was selected. Also, I don't know the details of the offence - the background to the crime can make a big difference.

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