Shepherd Wrote:1). Dumbledore wasn't placing Harry into a bad environment, he was placing Harry into a secure environment. While Ben Franklin did claim that "he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither," the fact is that Voldemort, his Death Eaters and all of their mentally controlled thralls sat outside of that house waiting for the protection to drop naturally rather than trying to attack Harry directly, so that must have been a pretty damn good defense.Hmm. I like your interpretation in item 3 -- it certainly makes the events of Philosopher's Stone make a bit more sense.
2). Letting the bad guys off lightly to repeat offend? Fanon hippy pacifist Dumbledore. He let Snape act in a petty and petulant manner because he needed Snape as his only spy within Voldemort's inner cirlce. Where else in canon do you see Dumbledore's supposed revolving door of justice?
As for 1, well, Dumbledore had some idea what he'd put Harry into, vis-a-vis his aunt's family and their attitudes -- he did admit and apologize for that in the denouement of one of the books, though I can't remember which one.
And with 2, I think the point is all the DEaters who got off scott-free with cries of "Imperius!" (and the occasional bribe). Given all the canon methods available to determine truth in such circumstanes -- well, the possibilities of Veritaserum alone have not only been exhausted by fic writers, but improved upon and looped back over again -- and given that the Wizengamot is not just a legislative body but the supreme judicial body as well for Wizarding Britain, it seems pretty obvious that an entire athletics storeroom full of balls were dropped when it came to prosecuting known associates of Voldemort; with Dumbledore's position as the head of the Wizengamot, much of the blame has be laid at his feet.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.