Possible Ministry Regulations (Long)

[Marissa]

No: HPFGUIDX 130313

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> 
wrote:
> "Jennifer":
> 
> > I'm not trying to start a political discussion, but I think these 
> > might be some possible ideas:
> > 
> > Laws
> > 1. Penalties
> >    a. Death Penalty (AK or veil) for:
> >       i. Anyone convicted of DE activity with or without Dark Mark
> >      ii. Death Penalty only available when Wizengamot renders  
> >          unanimous verdict.
> 
> Finwitch:
> 
> I can't help thinking of poor Sirius - you must first make certain 
> that people DO, at least, get a trial!

Marissa:

I agree with Finwitch and also want to bring up another point. The 
Death Penality is absolutely final. There is no way to go back and 
fix it if there is a mistake. Which brings to mind, to me at least, 
one of the most obvious lessons of Potterverse, "Things aren't always 
what they seem to be." Sirius wasn't the murderer that he seemed, 
Snape wasn't helping Voldemort, Riddle wasn't just a noble Head Boy, 
Mrs. Figg etc... Crouch had what JKR terms "admittedly rather 
convincing" evidence on Sirius, and Sirius probably would've been put 
into Azkaban even if there was a trial. If they had used the death 
penalty, then Sirius would have been dead even though he had been 
innocent. So even if they are allowed a trial, with all the magical 
loopholes in this world it would be hard to be 100% completely sure 
of anything enough to condemn a person to death.

JKR's Quote
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=105