Victims, of course, have the right to defend their self-interests, but our current law has not yet given them rights to punish criminals. Therefore, the line between justifiable and excessive self-defense is not legally clear. The court must ultimately make the final judgment in the interests of justice.

Xu Qiong (Chengdu Business Daily): Based on file documents released by the Foshan Intermediate People's Court, Long sped after the robbers before knocking over their motorcycle with her car, said the eyewitnesses. One robber died on the spot and police later arrested two others. The stolen money and some iron drill bits used to smash the window were found in their possession. When Long was sure she was safe, what was she defending herself against? Nobody has the right to kill others in the name of punishment, even if they are criminals.

The court's ruling came amid rampant robberies and resentful public opinions in the province, which implied that those being attacked could fight back even after criminals stopped. This ruling is believed to be a warning to lawbreakers, but seems unfair to them.

It is merciless to take a life, let alone using a car to take revenge. Long's measures of obvious excessive defense should not be allowed.

Guo Zhichun (Modern Golden Times): It was natural for Long to fight back when she was robbed and attacked. But crashing her care into the motorcycle was obviously risky, for both her and the robbers. What if she or other innocent people had been hurt in the crash?

Even though the robbers were guilty, Long had no right to punish them more severely than what they deserved by law. We need a strict legal procedure to deal with crime; and at least a trial must come before punishment. It seems that Long had a valid reason for recovering her money, but her way to achieve this was not that justifiable.

Zhou Ya (www.qh.xinhuanet.com): Long should not have chased the robbers to their death, because she was not in a life-threatening state when the robbers were fleeing the scene of crime. She seems to have given no thought to the fact that her chase would have caused traffic accidents or perhaps hurt innocent pedestrians.

It might be unfair to stop Long from retrieving her money, but it is equally unfair to the robber killed in the crash. Although Long was not considered guilty and thus was not subject to any criminal punishment, she should at least compensate survivors of the deceased one and the injured one according to civil liabilities.