23 Feb '18 12:59>
Originally posted by @torunnI grant your point where evidence is not conclusive. But where it is conclusive, I'm with dive on this one. Some criminals, especially child murderers, don't deserve a second chance. Not primarily because they might do it again, but primarily because they shouldn't have done it the first time. 20 or 30 years in prison may pay one's debt to society, but they don't pay the debt to the murdered child. Ask any parent of a murdered child: the anguish never stops.
It can be very difficult, sometimes impossible - and frustrating to all those involved in cases like this - to find the final evidence or proof connecting the man or men suspected of the rape. We have recently had a very upsetting case in Stockholm which had to to be dropped because it couldn't be proved 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that the men (in this case ...[text shortened]... in court.
This was a long legal procedure and unfortunately insufficient initial police-work.
Anyone who takes away the rest of a child's life should not have the rest of his own life to enjoy either.
While I agree that some murderers can reform, I don't think that is any reason to release them from prison. Let them be reformed and stay in prison and help other prisoners to reform. It would make them less difficult to manage while they stay in prison, and that is a social benefit. Let them do so useful work while in prison, if they want to and are so inclined. But keep them locked up.
Releasing reformed murderers from prison sends the wrong message: it says, in effect, 'it's ok to murder people just so long as you reform later.' Pfui. They should reform before they kill people, and if they can't then they should get themselves into counselling before they kill people.
Perhaps you've heard of the Tucker case. Ms Tucker committed a particularly gruesome murder. She was sentenced to be executed. Many years passed without the sentence being carried out (for bureaucratic reasons). During her long wait, she converted to Christianity and sincerely and genuinely repented of her crime. No one doubted her on that point. A 'movement' was started to get her sentence commuted to life in prison. Even some members of the victim's family were moved to beg for her sentence to be commuted, in the spirit of Christian forgiveness. The state governor (George W Bush at the time) refused and sentence was carried out. I submit that if anyone sentenced to death row had 'converted' to atheism and genuinely and sincerely repented of his crime, and no one doubted his reform was genuine, no one would have begged for his sentence to be commuted. Ms Tucker should have converted before the pick-axe fell. "Ain't nobody's fault but mine..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker