Last Monday a man shot three people in the Melbourne CBD, killing one man. Brendan Keilar lost his life coming to the aid of a woman in a cab whose companion had pulled a gun. She was shot, as well as another man, Paul de Waard, who came to her assistance.
The gunman has since been identified as Christopher Hudson and he has surrendered to police, but some people are asking - who is to blame?
There are many theories about where the blame should lie for crimes such as these. Criminological theories range from "society is to blame" to "the individual is to blame". Hudson was a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, and before that had been in other motorcycle gangs. Some people are blaming the motorcycle gangs, as this would have been where Hudson procured his weapon.
As far as I am concerned no one is to blame except Christopher Hudson. While motorcycle gangs may have a violent culture, other members of the gangs are not killing innocent people in broad daylight in the centre of the city. What lead Hudson to join the the Hell's Angels, or any other gang, is also irrelevant. Many people have had rough lives, terrible childhoods, bad upbringings, but they do not kill innocent people.
Don't lay the blame anywhere except where it belongs - with the man who pulled the trigger.
My next point is in regards to the bystander effect. The bystander effect is a psychological phenomena whereby people do not go to help an individual in need if there are other people around - most people expect "someone else" to do it. Brendan Keilar and Paul de Waard proved to be exceptions to this and Mr Keilar paid with his life. Many internet site ran polls in the days after the shooting questioning whether people would help in a similar situation. Most people said yes.
I wonder if that's true.
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