Scape goats?

Are you familiar with the term 'scape goat'? (Sorry if I mess this next bit up a tad...) At one point amongst some people, it was the practice for a spiritual leader to place all the bad stuff done by a people on/into a sacrificial goat. That goat was then released out into the desert/barren place to wander and who knows what else.... It was the goat that escaped being sacrificed up on an altar. Or did it really escape at all?

Well, I was reading news this morning since my tummy is a touch out of whack, and I don't feel like leaving the house quite yet. I came across this story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/world/americas/05orphans.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Yes, these people broke the law. Yes, I feel that what they tried to do was wrong. But, this quote from that story says it all:

“Haiti’s decision to prosecute the Baptist missionaries may be motivated, in
part, by the need to show its own people and the world that it is a viable
entity that is tackling the grave problem of international child abductions in
Haiti,” Christopher J. Schmidt, a lawyer with Bryan Cave L.L.P. in St. Louis who
has been involved in multiple cases of international kidnapping, said in a
statement.

Are these people really criminals or just very ignorant? I mean really, what do you think? The story makes it sound like the team leader may have had an idea about potential consequences, but did the rest of the team? I think these folks are gonna become scape goats because they were an easy target. I hope rational thought prevails.