So the worst thing that could happen is showing a child compassion that you believe she doesn't deserve?

Edited to add: I'm interested in part because you have defended criminals in court before, many of whom, I would guess, were grown adults who knowingly did wrong, yet you believe quite firmly in being fair to them as people. This makes it hard for me to believe that there are any innocent children out there whom you would so vehemently deny compassion. Indeed, I have a hard time picturing you (or, er, picturing the picture of you I have in my head) looking at a little girl who was suffering from egregious abuse at the hands of her parents and telling her, "Nah, I don't really want to help you. You don't deserve it. You're weird and stupid." I have a feeling it has to do with accepting that you would have been in just as terrible a situation if you had made different choices means having to face the powerlessness and lack of control that pbutton is talking about. I don't know that for sure. But it can feel better to impose adult logic on an illogical situation in which one was a powerless child. Taking on too much blame is a form of control-seeking, sometimes.

It just seems to me that you spin your wheels with this issue, and in wondering what horrible event would occur if you just gave it a whirl -- showing compassion to yourself as a child the way you would any other child -- I am wondering what this is all about... and also hoping that maybe you will give it a try, rather than revisiting and resisting the same issue over and over and over.