Yesterday, Theodore Wafer, the man who shot Renisha McBride, was found guilty on all three charge brought against him, including second degree murder. There was no question that Wafer killed McBride, who knocked on his door after surviving a car crash. The defendant claimed, though, that the shooting was self-defense: Wafer insisted he thought McBride, who was not armed, was trying to break into his house because (he claims) she knocked very loudly.

The jury didn’t buy it. Cheering on a prison sentence is always an uncomfortable position, but it’s hard not to take some small amount of comfort when a system can at least recognize one form of overlooked violence, if not its own. ...