Harry's Use of an Unforgivable Curse

[karenoc1]

No: HPFGUIDX 96023

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nmjenson" <nmjenson at y...> 
wrote:
> Anybody else unsettled by Harry's use of an unforgivable curse at 
the 
> end of OotP? I mean, it should be punishable by lifetime 
> imprisionment at Azkaban ... and he seems to have gotten away with 
> it! Dumbledore didn't mention it to him .... he HIMSELF doesn't 
seem 
> to realize how serious it was. I realize Sirius's death overshadows 
> his emotions, but still.

Now karenoc1:
Yes, I hated seeing Harry use an unforgivable curse, but I also think 
that the fact that he tried it was a very human reaction.  How would 
a fifteen year old react believably when facing the murderer of the 
only parent he ever knew?  I hated seeing it, but I understood it.

BTW, Harry has seen people he trusts "take the law into their own 
hands" before he himself tries to attack Bellatrix.  Here, I'm 
thinking about Lupin (and Sirius) at the end of PoA.  Harry stops 
them from using an unforgivable curse to kill Peter, but both had 
been willing to use Avada Kedavra.  

How long in the wizarding world do you think the unforgivable curses 
could land a wizard into Azkaban?  Since Voldemort's time or before 
that?  Do you think Dumbledore was instrumental in reforming that 
particular part of wizarding law?  (Remember the big hint about the 
execution chamber at the end of OotP?  What could have been 
punishable by death if not an unforgivable curse?)

karenoc1