Blaming the Victim?

Jessica Harbour raises a good point in response to this article by Theodore Dalrymple in The New Criterion.

I don't see why "the chickens coming home to roost" is roundly criticized as a response to, say, September 11th, but perfectly acceptable in this case, apparently. Because it's one person dead instead of thousands? Because she was a French actress with a fairly-typical-for-a-French-actress love life?

Marie Tritignant did not deserve to be beaten to death by a drunken boyfriend. But then smokers don't deserve to die of cancer or heart attacks. Smokers, however, choose to engage in an activity which increases their chances of an early death. Likewise, Tritignant behaved in a manner which increased the risks to her personal safety.

Morally, the boyfriend is culpable. But that does not change the fact that her behavior placed her at risk.