Speaking of concubines, one of Freeman's finest portraits is of St. Augustine, who he argues was not the debauchee of (largely self-promoted) legend, but rather a man racked with guilt about minor peccadilloes.
The protected admissions scheme – the result of negotiations between the police, Legal Aid NSW, the Aboriginal Legal Service ALSS) and the Department of Police and Justice – allows young offenders to admit their guilt over minor offences to police with a guarantee it will not result in a formal charge.
Do you feel intense guilt over minor mistakes, events that no one blames you for, or things you have no control over?
To prove the point that Germans who break even minor rules struggle with their guilt, a few years back a newspaper in Tübingen announced a new experiment by the traffic authorities.
In the novel's most memorable scene, Georg von Wergenthin, a dilettante composer and minor aristocrat, waits, anxious and guilt-ridden, as his mistress, to whom he has already been unfaithful, gives birth: What was I doing a year ago?
And there are some minor elements of mystery, like Moray's suspicious guilt over the death of his wife.
That the Soviets had already stolen those secrets from other sources and that it was relatively minor (though confirmatory) would not have mitigated the Rosenbergs' legal guilt because they were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage.
"This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," he said.
"I forget," he says hesitantly. "Which part do I chop?" A minor lapse, especially since not even two years ago, Marshall thought dinner usually meant, as his guilt-ridden mother puts it, "boxed something".
Cases usually involve relatively minor infractions like swearing, shoving students or being disrespectful toward teachers, and students generally do not determine innocence or guilt.
