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I've never understood that argument; how can you NOT like something somebody has done and STILL like the person? The person makes a conscious choice to do the deed; unless you just don't want to make people accountable for their own actions, that sounds like a cop out to me.

The first thing I would want to say is that I don't think it's about "liking" either the deed or the person. It's about what I think.

I think the consciousness with which people choose to do things is varied, as a matter of fact. Some people seem to litter quite unconsciously. But even if we're talking about a something done with malice aforethought and all that, I think that all the deed tells me is at most something about that person right then. People change and it seems to me that their deeds as much "make" them who they are becoming as they proceed out of who they already are.

In any event, I guess I tend to focus on the deed. People are a mystery, at least to me.

I guess I also think of Saint Paul. First he is a brutal and dogged persecutor of a minority sect -- then he becomes one of its leaders. And we all have bad days when we do or say stuff we regret - regret because it was wrong.

Finally, in this highly inadequate and sketchy answer, I don't think there's a connection between not "judging" a person and judging (and holding a person responsible for) a particular deed - or even a pattern of deeds. By all means, lock 'em up or fine 'em, or even put them to death. There are deeds and responsibilities and consequences. But in the old days the sentencing judges would say (and maybe some of them meant it), "May God have mercy on your soul."