Harry Potter: Should Draco Malfoy go to Azkaban?

[Leonie Hauri]

Let's face it. Draco Malfoy's actions were less than legal. Yes, he sort of redeemed himself in the end, but fact is, he was still a Death Eater. And Death Eaters go to Azkaban.

On the other hand, you'd have a pretty convincing argument if you said Draco shouldn't go to Azkaban, so it can go either way.

So, *ahem*. Should Draco Malfoy go to Azkaban?

[Leonie Hauri]

No one wants to post... So I will?

I do not think Draco Malfoy should go to Azkaban. Yes, he tried to kill Dumbledore, but he did this under a lot of pressure from his parents and probably Voldemort as well. Not only that, but he was not successful in this matter, and while attempting murder is still a serious matter, I would like to argue that these were trying times. Draco did not truly want to kill Dumbledore, and was merely the weapon Voldemort used in this act.

While Draco Malfoy did join the Death Eaters, he did so at a young age and should not be held responsible for something he did at a time when his parents were putting so much pressure on him and he was so young. Yes, you could argue that at that age he was still old enough to think for himself and know what he was doing, but did he really? Draco wasn't even out of teens yet. Can you really hold someone responsible for something they did in their teens?

In the end, Draco actually ended up not to be so bad. I believe that he redeemed himself in the end and is heartily sorry for his actions. In this sense, even if he were to have committed crimes serious enough to be sent to Azkaban, he ended up being sorry for his actions.

I do not think that Draco Malfoy should go to Azkaban.

[Joey Stark]

I also don't think draco should go to Azkaban. Some individuals were coerced and controlled into dark deeds during the war via the imperius curse, Stan Shunpike, Madam Rosmerta etc. These are not people who have made an informed decision to act on ill will, they are victims of the influence they were put under and presumably were not punished for their roles.

In the same way that these people are not responsible or accountable for their actions during the war, Draco, although not under the imperius, was also a victim of influence and coercion. Draco was powerless to refuse Lord Voldemort when given direct commands. We can see in Narcissa's grief when she begs Severus Snape for his help in protecting Draco that he had little option but to take the route already set in motion for him, he could not even be shielded by his guardians.

Draco never really felt he was given a choice, he says as much to Dumbledore after being ordered to kill him, "I haven't got any options!...I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!" and 'He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice". For all intents and purposes, Draco was right, he was a pawn in Lord Voldemort's plans and thus his humanity and choice was stripped from him.

Furthermore, Draco received his punishment. We know that during his sixth year he was under an immense amount of stress and pressure whilst trying to do Voldemort's bidding. His actions during the final battle also show remorse, Draco ultimately believed what he did was wrong and as the result likely experienced a lot of guilt and regret. This is a harsh form of punishment in itself. The remorse felt after his actions also means that any further punishment, such as imprisonment, is unlikely to hold any real value.

Draco made mistakes, as children do, but his Death Eater activities were the equivalent of being held at wandpoint by Voldemort himself. He should not be punished as a result, bearing in mind that he is remorseful of his actions and suffered psychological and emotional punishment already.

[Niniel Sanders]

Playing the Devil's advocate here and arguing a point I don't actually believe in. Let's see how it goes XD

Draco should go to Azkaban.

Yes, he was coerced by Voldemort, and yes he was young. But he was not young enough to excuse his behaviour. Draco is not ever described as stupid. With however many flaws he has, stupidity is not one of them. In fact he seems to be fairly intelligent. And not just academically.
Although neither Crabbe nor Goyle are great intellects, they are still controlled by Draco, which means he has at least some grasp on how social intelligence works too. He is able to keep a friendship (of sorts at least) going, and he is able to remain the leader of his clique.

So his age cannot be used as an excuse for him not knowing what is right and wrong.
People will try to use his upbringing as an excuse, but again; Draco is no longer a child. He is an intelligent young man, who is clearly able to think and reason for himself.
Then people will argue that he was under threat, and I'll agree: he was. But that is not an excuse to do wrong.
Would not most of us agree that Peter Pettigrew deserved to go to Azkaban? He was not much older than Draco, and likely was under equally great pressure when he betrayed the Potters' to Voldemort. Would we have him forgiven? If we answer no here, then we have to also answer no to forgiving Draco.

We want to forgive him purely because we know him, and have known him as a child. But we cannot allow our personal feelings to cloud our judgement: He knew what he was doing, and he knew that it was wrong. Does his knowledge that it was wrong not in fact make his deeds worse? That if anything proves he is not an unknowing child. He was under no curse forcing him to bend to the will of the dark lord and he knew full well how wrong it was.
That means whatever he did, he did it knowing exactly what he did. It was premeditatet.

[Harry Walles]

I personally do not think he deserves to go to Azkaban. He was a Death Eater simply because his father was one and so Draco was left with very little choice regarding that. He had a really difficult childhood and adolescence and even though movies and books do not go so deep into his life, we can kind of see and understand how difficult it was for him with his family constantly pushing him to do evil things and side with Lord Voldemort just for the sake of keeping the family traditions going.

[Aurelia West]

I also do not think Draco should go to Azkaban. He was underage when he was being pressured by his parents and Lord Voldemort to kill Albus Dumbledore, and after his apparent failure, he was not given much thought by the Death Eaters. Then following his seventeenth birthday, his only real crimes were that he bore witness to such tragedy. From what we can see at many points throughout the books, he was uncomfortable with his situation but was unable to distance himself from his family or the Death Eaters because of all the information he already knew. It would have been very dangerous to abandon the Dark Lord at the height of his power, so he cannot be blamed for not leaving the group

[Lex Green]

I don't think Draco should necessarily go straight to Azkaban for his part in the events of the books, but I also don't think he should be completely excused. I think the redemption he got in the books is nowhere near enough to really put his past behind him, but it was a start, and I would've liked to see his story (and everyone else's for that matter) continue for a few years after he left Hogwarts, to give him a better chance to truly redeem himself.

[Aquaria Sandalwood]

I do not think Draco should go to Azkaban. I agree with others on this thread who have said he was coerced, and while I don’t think it’s the only reason he shouldn’t be imprisoned, I do think it is a main one. At the time that Draco became a Death Eater and was tasked to kill Professor Dumbledore, he was still a minor. He was under the influence of not only Voldemort, but also his father. He was, in fact, somewhat afraid of his father, and would arguably do just about anything to stay on his good side and be what his father would consider worthy of the Malfoy name. Because of his hesitancy to, pathetic attempts at, and ultimate failure to kill Dumbledore, it would seem that it was never something he desired to do, and its questionable as to whether or not he ever actually would have done it. He is a classic case of a child taking on their parents ideals, never yet having to think for themselves or be their own person. Then, once he does get the opportunity to think for himself, he chose to join the side of good over evil, even when it meant going against his father and family and all of the other allies he had always known. In the end, he chooses the side of good and helps them to prevail.
That being said, I don’t necessarily think that means he should completely be thought of as innocent. I think it would have been wise for the Ministry of Magic to have kept an eye on him or put him on some sort of probation for awhile, or possible given him some sort of other punishment like community service hours or something of the like for what he did do, but no, I don’t think his behaviour warrants Azkaban, and I think he should be given a chance to prove that he really did change his ways, and the same goes for any other Hogwarts students/kids who previously sided with the Death Eaters, but no longer wished to do so.

[Hiya Debnath]

I would like to say that "Death Eaters go to Azkaban" doesn't have to be a hard and fast rule because no matter what the action, the person behind the action is not necessarily bad, not to mention in quite a few cases can be rehabilitated. Unnecessary punishment reduces the chances of rehabilitation and makes the person feel worse, not to mention takes away time that could used for doing better things and rehabilitating oneself. What matters is whether there is remorse or not. While remorse can be faked, it was clear that Draco Malfoy's remorse was not fake. There have been instances when he cried in the bathroom because he couldn't do it. The motivation behind the action also matters. Whether the person did it themselves or whether they were forced to, or what we call the intent behind the crime, is a major factor in determining the seriousness of the crime. Draco Malfoy had no major motivations of his own except keeping up the name of his family. Born in a Slytherin family to a rich man, it was only natural that he thought he was superior, mostly because of the way he must have been brought up if Lucius was his father. Moreover, which son wouldn't want to save his family from Voldemort's wrath or punishment and which son would like to see Voldemort shame his/her family. However, he has definitely indicated many times that he had second thoughts and didn't really want to kill Dumbledore, actually he even failed to do that. Speaking of bullying muggle-borns, again that comes from the way he was brought up since childhood, but it's also quite possible that he didn't realise he was hurting the people he bullied and thought it was all in good fun, as he was not very kind to pure-blood Slytherins either, for e.g., when he told Goyle that he didn't know Goyle could read or when he treated them as his minions or called them negative names for failing to be his perfect allies. In defence of him despite him being a great bully, we can argue that James Potter was no less an entitled chap and an arrogant bully than Draco Malfoy, maybe even more than Draco, for e.g., when he hung Severus Snape upside down by the ankle using the spell Levicorpus. Yet for some weird reason or for the purpose of the plot, James was painted in a noble light and Lily was even made to fall in love with him. Some actions just get justified by being a Gryffindor, I guess.

[Galena May]

I do not think Draco Malfoy should go to Azkaban because although he was a bully and a Muggle-born hater, he probably wasn't inherently bad. He was just looking for ways to feel accepted and respected in however negative a way, because he felt a lack of acceptance somewhere in his life, perhaps at home because his family was busy trying to please Voldemort and therefore had high expectations of him from a very young age, which he was probably not sure he was up to. He had always been raised by his parents to hate Muggle-borns, boast about his wealth and status, and pretend that it is not okay to be anything but number one even unseeing and denying his flaws and shortcomings and manipulating others to achieve the effect. Bullying others was simply a side-effect of the same because he was always taught that no one could be better than him. He simply could not accept that Hermione, a Muggle-born, was better than him because he was raised to feel bad about himself if he agreed to that being a possibility, so he felt the need to bully her to protect his ego and feelings. A lot of what he did was simply projection, projection of the treatment that he got at his own home. As he grew up and reached the age of reasonably being able to have his opinions, an age of seventeen years old to be more precise, he did stand up against his family and his father even in the presence of Voldemort to protect Harry, here I am talking about the Malfoy Manor incident where Harry was caught by Snatchers and Draco refused to identify him despite the possible peril for his family as a result of that. The rest of what he did on the wrong side even after that was a result of him feeling forced and too deep in the negative rut to get out. After the war ended, Draco redeemed himself as said by the original poster, and the person that he became was not one to be sent to Azkaban. Sending a person to Azkaban and punishing them on the basis of what they did when they were below seventeen is not really commendable, because he didn't really have a personality back then. I believe that his adult personality was shaped positively by the events that transpired during the war, which is a bonus. Even in the Muggle realm, in most countries, juvenile crimes and influenced crimes are treated more leniently, and if the person is somewhere between being a child and an adult, their emotional maturity and various other factors are taken into consideration. Therefore, a lesser punishment like a fine or house arrest for some time would be reasonable, or maybe a few compulsory years in a rehabilitation home with a trained therapist, but sending him to Azkaban which is the second highest punishment in the wizarding world after the Dementor's kiss, like other more malevolent Death Eaters, was not what he should be put through, especially since he already provided proof that he was capable of rehabilitating.