In the UK many people wish for the death penalty to be reinstated, under the belief that it would be a deterrant for committing a crime. Would it make a mentally ill psychopath reconsider his actions? Or someone who kills in the heat of the moment? No, I don't think it would. I think there is an element of thinking that by executing someone who has committed a major crime we are cutting the dead wood out of society. There is logic in that but as Luther has pointed out if a person is safely locked away then they have no chance to be a danger to anyone anyhow. As for a life sentence meaning life I think there is no hard or fast answer to that. Every case must be dealt with on a strictly case to case basis. The murderous sociopath who can never change than yes, keep them locked up and out of harms way forever. But if a person has been rehabilitated, is deeply remorseful for their past actions, has passed every psychiatric test under the sun to prove that they are no longer a danger to others and has spent a sufficient time in prison as punishment for their crimes, then shouldn't they be allowed to rejoin the human race and try put some good back into the world rather than rot behind bars?
Good call mr Beard. I like your comment on the person that is remorseful. It has been proven again and again that longer sentences are not deterrent more than 'normal' ones. The longer a sentence, the more a convict is in contact with 'pro' criminals, the really heavy ones, and the lesser the chance that he/she will return as a 'healed, sane' person. Abuse and rape are quite endemic in prisons, even in the West. Furthermore, the longer a sentence, the more the chance that the convict will develop irreversible clinical depression. That is sad.
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