Maggie's Farm

possibly the Derksens are psychotic. the normal reaction for a parent whose child was raped should be wanting to chop the rapist into hamburger and feed him to the dogs.

also possible that the Derksens are fully aware that they live in a country with a reasonably functioning judiciary and penal system whereby the rapist would be tried, convicted and sentenced, possibly to being set aflame or something similar. this is important because it allows them to indulge in this glurgy hand wringing sorrow for the poor, misunderstood rapist. the Derksens are spared the necessity of personal retribution because the state will do that for them on behalf of everyone. But take away that and the "we've all done something dreadful" rings hollow at best, totally dishonest at worst.

exactly. they're devout because the state dishes out the punishment to the rapist. so there's no personal need to be vengeful and all is groovy. thank the gods for that, I don't want to live in a society where a victim's family forgives a rapist, decides he's repented and turns him loose to rape another victim.