Svend of story

The auction house from whose premises Svend Robinson "pocketed" That Ring has said it accepts his apology and won't press charges. I realize this has been exhaustively discussed in the previous post on the subject, so I'll just close with a couple of thoughts. It seems inconceivable to me that a person in Robinson's position would have formed a coherent plan to shoplift a ring, and scarcely more conceivable that he would have done so on impulse unless he were completely out of his head. It's not like padding your expense account or similar offences, where you could reasonably expect to avoid being caught, and if caught to justify the expense in some fashion or other. In particular, it is not something one could easily rationalize to oneself, which I think is the critical factor in many people's willingness to commit a crime. Many of the comments on the previous post have scorned his invocation of his mental state as an "excuse." I'm assuming he's telling the truth when he says he turned himself in to the police voluntarily. (It would seem an odd thing to lie about, on national TV. Though it is worth noting that the auction house reported the theft to the RCMP last Saturday, three days before Robinson did.) This, too, seems telling to me. It's not as if he were caught after a six-week manhunt, and then showed up all teary-eyed. Granted, there are many gaps in his story. But given everything we know about Svend, the notion that he might not have been entirely in possession of his faculties doesn't seem that much of a stretch. The question is what penalty he should pay. Theft, followed by confession and return of the stolen property, is still theft: his offence is mitigated by his subsequent behaviour, but there should still be some penalty attached. Otherwise you give an out to real thieves, who could surrender if it looked likely they would be caught, or elect to remain on the lam, and escape punishment either way. Should he be permitted to remain an MP? He can't very well serve the public if he's serving time; remain a member of the House while a resident of the Big House. And there's a question whether, if he is as unhinged as he claims, he can properly represent his constituents (although this is BC, after all....) But on the assumption that his legal difficulties are behind him by the time of the next election, and if the good people of Burnaby-Douglas should decide, in their wisdom, to elect the tiresome self-promoter (that's tireless - ed.) yet again, that is their privilege, and his good luck. UPDATE: Colby Cosh offers his own characteristically shrewd take on the latest affaire Svend.