No offense but I am ignoring your first couple of sentences bc they insinuate that I (or anyone) justified what AP did based on the kid's behavioral problems... even though I even said in my post my reason for pointing it out.
You absolutely do need 'due process' unless you are the judge and jury in this or any other case. I don't agree with every law out there but I respect the process and input needed to put those laws into place. And I even accept that there needs to be a lot of improvement in that area, but it should still hold A TON more weight than the masses calling for the death penalty for anything that doesn't match their personal morals and values. You can feel however you want about him based on what you've seen, but law enforcement and his employers should dig deeper before destroying his life.
He didn't admit to being guilty of child abuse, he admitted to disciplining his child. He admitted to going overboard but his intent was still to discipline his child in a way that is still acceptable to a lot of people even today. I believe it's been mentioned that the type of discipline is stated to be legal in Texas even. So it's going to be a case of the significance intent plays into things... and how a jury of his peers view the Texas laws and spanking kids.
It's not just a matter of whether or not he crossed the line of discipline to abuse, but what the punishment would be if that's proven to be the case. The masses want the book thrown at everyone. I wonder how many people who have absolutely no doubt in their mind that this is child abuse consider Peterson as bad as the man that beat his son to death.
Living in the world where people look at things as black and white as that, I'm very happy we have a law enforcement system that can provide more rational judgments.