So often the difference between “may” and “must” gets forgotten. It used to be believed that there was an element of good humanity which we might otherwise know as chivalry. To try to recover a situation with a viewpoint more like God’s than like people’s. Which would take a risk for the sake of lessening the tragedy even of a wrongdoer. This in fact was based on a Christian ethic. But as Christian faith become more and more an empty churchgoing practice, its influence has waned.
Nicely phrased.