Should Janeway have let Seven go back to the Borg?

[Yukaphile]

Cropped up in another thread, and I wanna discuss it here. When she was freed in "Scorpion," in "The Gift," should Janeway have let Seven return to the Borg because she clearly wants it? To me, I see this as akin to raising a child by somebody else. If somebody stole that child, and they were raised for over a decade with that family, that's a tricky matter. But by that point, they've become so accustomed to that lifestyle (assuming they are not abusive, or maybe even if), that they will fight to stay there.

[Deledrius]

TNG's Suddenly Human took a different stance than Janeway did, I think.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

This was probably the determinant factor that got Janeway admiralship, so I say no.

[Yukaphile]

You act as if her being an admiral would be a good thing.

[J!!]

the borg are de facto at war with the federation. rejoining the collective would mean rejoining their efforts of mass assimilation and genocide. and even if you set aside the ethics of all that, the collective would gain access to all the knowledge & memories she had acquired during her time on voyager, posing a severe security risk for the ship itself.

7of9 is a POW, and should be treated as such.

[Yukaphile]

There has been no formal declaration of war. To claim otherwise is after-the-fact hand-wringing.

[J!!]

youtu.be/AyenRCJ_4Ww

[Yukaphile]

Not by the Federation, and you know it.

[Kinky Vorlon]

Regardless, the Borg and Federation are openly hostile to another. Allowing someone with tactical and strategic data to go back to the enemy, especially an enemy which openly avows genocide, is unjustifiable by any standard of rational and moral decision making.

Now, if you could turn Seven into some kind of Manchurian agent, then you do it.

[Yukaphile]

What information had she obtained by that point? I think the big problem here is that the rationale "she would be the enemy if she went back" is valid, but that's not how it's presented. She is presented as more of a hypocrite by acting like Q because they wanna present her as being more "motherly" and "compassionate." This is what Moore had talked about, they didn't wanna show Janeway being weak in any way, because they're afraid people would lose respect for her, but then make her look weak in other ways - like being a raging hypocrite.