• Intralexical@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A chance to change, sure. But it would be a mistake to pretend it’s not also a chance to kill again. And it turns out people actually can’t change, meaningfully, without remorse for their past deeds— And you can’t ever actually know whether they feel that. Mercy feels very good until you realize ten years later how much pain you could have avoided otherwise.

    Also, you’re presenting a false dichotomy between “Set them loose on the world” versus “Isolation and torture for the rest of their life”.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s unacceptable to put innocent people at risk in order to give a convicted violent criminal mercy. It’s very easy to say they should be released on good behavior when you live hundreds of miles away. Unless someone is willing to live as that person’s roommate or neighbor, I think it’s completely hypocritical to chastise others for supporting incarceration.