Double jeopardy?
Most of us adhere to some basic moral principles that we take for granted and which, if we are observed violating, can result in all manner of moral, legal, conceptual and practical difficulties and confusion.
It appears to me that in the case of the two policemen who were promoted after it was proven in a court of law that they had tortured a 14-year-old youth by burning his testicles at the Leonora police station, we have this violation of basic principles and should pay keen attention to the lessons it teaches to both public and private management.
There are fundamental natural law/human rights principles, e.g. the other party to a dispute must be given a hearing; one should not be a judge in one’s own case; one should not be tried twice for the same offence (double jeopardy), which have more or less become part of the psyche of the reasonably educated person. And through the centuries, many organizational principles have also emerged, the following being some I consider relevant to the subject at hand.
Discipline must be just, but sufficiently severe to meet the requirements of the situation;