Putting criminals back in society vs holding them in prison for punishment.

[AchrisK]

... In some aspects, our prison system is far too harsh, and in others, too soft, or rather, naive.

Problem is, there is no way to tell which is the case with each individual. Nobody can really judge the heart of another man correctly. A man can scarcely judge his own heart correctly, and if he does, it's in a moment. Men become weak and their honest repentance may not remain.

In other news, I watched the movie The Life of David Gale. An interesting film in light of this discussion, but not really any answers or new insight.