lady in the street and steals the money in her purse to fuel his drug habit? No doubt the attackers feel good afterwards, but do their feelings sanctify their actions? Can we settle for saying that the attacks were right for the attackers but not for the victims? In the winter of 2005–6 a man broke into a house in the north of England, snatched a six-year-old girl from her bath and raped her before leaving her lying naked near her home when the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing. Within