The parents

During the summer of 1992, two prisoners, one on parole, the other at liberty on a temporary penitentiary pass, rob, rape and kill three people while on the run. Two of the victims are teenagers. Public outrage swells. There are protests against parole and demands that the death penalty be reinstated.The monthly news magazine program, FAITS DIVERS, specializes in issues of a judicial nature. But it chose to approach this event in a manner very different from the way in which the public has reacted. In retracting the rampage of the two convicts, the program deliberately avoided sensationalism, and it devoted most of the hour to a calm and thoughtful discussion with the parents of both victims and the perpetrators. The result is a testament to human dignity and systemic failure. It is also a classical example of what public television can do in contrast to a media which seeks large audiences through emotional and sensational exploitation of shifting public moods.