Re:Jeremy Hammond sentenced to 10 years for Stratfor leak
by Solarsail on Friday November 15, 2013 @07:47PM
(#6743062)
At the same time, it is incredibly easy to fake being sorry. In addition to that, in the case of an innocent being held in jail they would have no real reason to be sorry for what they didn't do. (I could accept that this latter point doesn't hold, if the prisons simply assume that wrongful convictions don't occur and aren't their problem if they do.) (I recall this scenario from a study we did in school on wrongful convictions. One particular individual -- who served 30 years and later had his conviction overturned after he was released, explicitly refused to apologize; that would mean he was guilty.)
Re:Jeremy Hammond sentenced to 10 years for Stratfor leak
by thaumasiotes on Saturday November 16, 2013 @10:47AM
(#6745111)
I have read that it's much more difficult for the wrongfully convicted to get parole, as they tend to be rather averse to admitting they committed the crime.
Because punishment has many goals, and one of them is removal of negative agents from society.
If someone seems sorry, or it's his first crime, there's a likelihood it will be his last crime, and releasing him earlier makes sense.
If someone is not sorry, or keeps committing crimes when released, then perhaps a higher penalty will at least somewhat deter them, and if not - they'll have less opportunity to repeat the crime.