these three need to serve a lot of time before society will be ready to take them back.
It would take a life without chances of parole amount of time for them to realize that what they did was wrong and more importantly, WHY it was wrong. They probably see themselves as a victim of a political climate and will do so until the reality of their new home sets in. These privileged dudes are thinking someone in a powerful position will bail them out soon because they are used to that bullshit.
That sentiment would outlast calls for the rapture if biology permitted it.
Edit: Think I'm wrong? Wait until an interview from prison. I won't be suprised.
You are probably correct that they think of themselves as victims. They are idiots, hateful, racist idiots. I just don't think any governor will pardon them under any circumstances. Nor will I lose any sleep over them having to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
When I said I don't believe in prison without a chance of parole for violent criminals, I was mostly thinking of when a former violent prisoner becomes frail and old, or is senile, and no longer a threat to society. At that point, it seems stupid, unnecessary and maybe even cruel to me to keep them in prison. If they don't have family to care for them in old age, their is always the alternate prison, aka, nursing homes.
They are cheaper than prison and the care is hopefully a bit better than holding such individuals in a prison infirmary. While, it's been abused frequently, one of our country's ideals is supposed to be that we don't provide cruel and unusual punishment, Sadly, we have ended up with what is probably the cruelest prison system in the Western world, and it's gotten worse in my lifetime After decades in a prison cell as punishment, what is the point of holding such people even longer? Do we have to lower ourselves to the level of the criminal and extract revenge like some versions of Bible God?
Without meaning to start an argument over free will, I see each individual as a product of their genetic and environmental influences. We all become who we are due to those influences, imo. So, while I feel disgust for people like these three, a part of me realizes that any of us could be like them if we had the exact same influences. So, considering that, it's hard for me to justify cruel treatment. At the same time, it's very sad that we have so many messed up, hateful humans. I just don't like revenge, but that's just me.
Capital punishment, imo, is giving society the green light to commit the same crime as the criminal. "Revenge is mine, saith the Lord!" I hate that. I know it's idealist but I don't support revenge. It's fine to have some retribution, but I would prefer to give criminals the opportunity for rehab. Just like they were influenced to become the harmful haters who they are, rehab sometimes influences a person to move in the opposite direction, to atone for their crimes, to realize the harm they have done, assuming they don't suffer from sociopathy, but I'm going way off topic. We can both agree that justice was served when these men were prosecuted and found guilty.