Life should mean life, amirite?

I feel like more people in our generation are against the concept of rehabilitation and I honestly think this isn't an unpopular opinion anymore

by Anonymous 1 month ago

You could be any generation.

by everettkiehn 1 month ago

I don't think this is true. We have more people interested in mental health and 'the concept of rehabilitation' than ever

by Remote-Jury 1 month ago

It's just gotten more polarised; I think before people were willing to settle in the middle whereas now it tends to swing between death/life or extensive rehabilitation.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

What generation is this? I don't think life sentences have ever been about rehabilitation, and nor should they be. They should be issued when what you have done is so heinous that a message must be sent to the public that if you commit such an act he will never see the light of day again. And/or you've proven yourself through previous acts to be so dangerous that you almost certainly will not be able to function in society without being a threat to others.

by harmoncasper 1 month ago

And that's a huge problem! Because the reality, as shown by the way many countries around the world handle their criminals, is that rehabilitation-based penal systems are way more effective at keeping crime low than systems that focus on harsh punishments, often even dehumanising their inmates. It's extremely important to understand that in the very most cases, perpetrators are victims too. It's not "either - or" and no "good vs. bad people"! Every single one of us could one day end up committing a violent crime if put in the right (or rather, wrong) circumstances. Also, even the worst criminals are still human beings with unviolable human rights! "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." -Fyodor Dostoevsky, from The House of the Dead

by Shyann36 1 month ago

It's almost like there should be specifics, like life without the possibility of parole. Oh. Wait. There is.

by rubie39 1 month ago

Just because you can rehabilitate someone doesn't mean you should. Elaborate on this, please. If we can rehabilitate a person, explain, in detail, why we shouldn't.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

OK, but that's explicitly someone who wasn't rehabilitated.

by Gregorio81 1 month ago

If someone kills a child, gets out of jail, and then kills another child, you shouldn't let them out a second time. ....Okay. In that situation, I sincerely doubt they would be released from prison a second time; can you give an example of a single time this has happened? Also, this doesn't address my question at all. If the person leaves prison and kills again, they weren't rehabilitated.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

can you give an example of a single time this has happened It was just a random example I threw out to get my point across, but I'm sure it's happened at some point. If you want actual evidence, there are plenty of cases where people commit crimes again after getting out, so just look at those. I agree that rehabilitation should be attempted if possible, but some people are past that. I'm just saying that it's not an option for everyone so I agree with OP that life should mean life.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Silly, criminals aren't people! Just like immigrants aren't people, and liberals aren't people, and people who talk in the theatre aren't people...

by Anonymous 1 month ago

When I'm said "I'm sure it's happened" I meant that I could remember an article but not the details, not that I made it up. But here's the article I was thinking of.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

But if they were rehabilitated they wouldn't have killed a second child. Instead they were given a punishment that did nothing to dissuade them from a second offense and now a child is dead.

by Better_Builder 1 month ago

That would definitionally mean that we did not rehabilitate them.

by LatterFollowing1556 1 month ago

Why give them the chance to kill again? The general populace are not a litmus test for whether you've tamed a psychopath.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Stealing is very different to murder. I never said that all criminals are beyond rehabilitation.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

If you believe rehabilitation is "forgiving", then you are part of the problem. Rehabilitation has nothing to do with forgiving a criminal; it's entirely centered around fostering a better society. A society that takes its criminals and throws them in a hole is not a better society, no matter what mental gymnastics you want to pull to convince yourself that there are exceptions.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

It isn't out of context. It was an overall sentiment thrown in at the end to support his position on this person. Rehabilitating is not forgiving This isn't a "gotcha" moment. I simply want OP to elaborate on his assertion.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

Some people aren't worth the effort.

by cristsandra 1 month ago

Tell me why you feel some people aren't worth the effort.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

Because not everyone is going to change or become better after the rehabilitation period.

by cristsandra 1 month ago

So how do you determine if someone isn't going to change?

by Anonymous 1 month ago

I dont. the government does, and that right there tells you nothing will happen because it's gonna take too much damn money and time to rehabilitate these people anyway.

by cristsandra 1 month ago

Because not everyone is going to change or become better after the rehabilitation period. ...Then that means they weren't rehabilitated. OP gave the qualifier that we can, in fact, rehabilitate someone. If they are rehabilitated, that means they are going to be law abiding citizens from then on. So please tell me why we shouldn't rehabilitate people if we in fact possess the ability to do so.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

Pretty simple. They will cause more harm than good. They do not deserve to live freely.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

But in the situation OP detailed, we possess the ability to rehabilitate them, which means they won't cause any more harm.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

You can't know that. You can't know the future. So you can't make the claim that it isn't worth the effort.

by Opening_Wall9753 1 month ago

Just because you can rehabilitate someone doesn't mean you should? You absolutely should

by sgreenholt 1 month ago

That's why they'll sentence them to something like 300 years without the possibility of parole so they're guaranteed to die in prison.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

A prison should be about rehabilitation not revenge.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Jail sentences dont have any effet on crime rates. Réhabilitation and réinsertion are the only things that démonstrated they work.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

My brother and a girl he was friends with got life in prison at 16 and 14, charged as adults, for not snitching on someone else who shot someone at a party

by Halvorsonvelda 1 month ago

Because in the hellscape that is the USA, the biggest crime you can commit is deprivation of profits from the rich.

by Powerful_Concern_268 1 month ago

Everyone deserves to earn a second chance, no matter how horrible. Prison should be used to reform criminals, and part of the way you do that, is you give people a chance at freedom again.

by Gold_Berry7558 1 month ago

How come?

by Gold_Berry7558 1 month ago

maybe you should get life for that awful opinion lol. Yeah if only the criminal system was even more punishing! That will surely fix it! look em all up and throw away the key.

by everettkiehn 1 month ago

I don't think this is unpopular. It's a very common talking point.

by Past_Pineapple 1 month ago

You have some general and specific opinion mixed in here I think. From the context it sounds like you are talking about murderers specifically as I believe those are the only victims that would not be given another chance at life. But the generalization of "life sentence should mean death" is a little extreme. I get that there is a lot of anger around these situations, but if we start killing everyone who does things we don't agree with (speaking more to the generalization of all life sentences) I think you'll find that the world left behind is way more vulgar than what we have now. Absolute compliance to the standard under penalty of death. That's where a non-rehabilitation system would lead. Literally authoritarian control.

by Anonymous 1 month ago