Failblog Comment on Bank Robber Fail

source: http://failblog.org/2011/03/29/epic-fail-photos-probably-bad-news-bank-teller-win-bank-robber-fail/

It’s good to see there are still good people here.
Because if good people are those who get revenge and kill other people when they can legally justify it, what is left to call the people who show compassion and forgiveness?
I would go as far as to say that if you enjoy killing people but are just waiting for a morally acceptable excuse to do it, you’re no better than the murderers you want to kill. In fact you’re also a hypocrite on top of a blood-thirsty psycho.

People are mostly the product of their environment. We don’t pick where we are born and where we grow up. As evidence, look at how crime is often correlated to poor neighborhoods, child abuse or lack of education. Whether you are a law-abiding citizen or a felon is mostly luck. Personally, I consider myself lucky that I was taught to empathize for others and to look at the bigger picture when I want to know what the consequences of my actions are. I’m also lucky that I do not need to be selfish and harm others to take care of myself or my family – trust me, I’d rather kill 100 people than let my child starve if it came to that and no amount of punishment would discourage me.

Crime is bad but that doesn’t mean criminals are the evil dark spawn of the devil. Also, some criminals do change their perspectives completely and sincerely regret their actions. I can’t approve the execution or any form of revenge against a criminal because I know it could have been me and because I know most, if not all of these criminals could one day become better persons if given the chance. When you kill a criminal, you also kill the good person they could have become in the future.

Now I do agree that criminals can’t be let free. But I believe in a system that rehabilitates people, not a system that punishes people. Lock them up, but also help them fit with society and become good people. Release them when they are ready.
I like to think this is at least what a wise society would do.

Finally, one reason criminals fail at rehabilitation is the stigma they experience when released. Plenty of people won’t hire them, won’t rent to them, won’t have them as neighbors, won’t talk to them… Many convicts get out of jail hoping to start a law-abiding life but soon find the law gives them a second chance but society doesn’t. Some feel lost in a society that is hostile to them, end up hanging out with fellow ex-convict friends, need money, and at one point they feel they have no other choice but to rob a store to eat but also think they’re entitled to it since they were denied the chance to have a job.

So many people are all like “Yeah, now that you’re out of jail you should walk in line and become a good person, put your life of crime behind, get a job, a place to live… like all good people do. Just don’t expect ME to hire you, I don’t trust you and I think you’ll probably stab me to steal my money”. These same people are also all like “Rehabilitation doesn’t work, if it did why do so many ex-cons end up back in jail?”.

And because someone here will undoubtedly ask me “what if it was one of your relatives who got killed?” – I’m human, I might want revenge in that case. But that doesn’t mean getting revenge would be the right thing to do. In fact I would be too involved personally in the crime to be objective. I hope if someone I care about was murdered, I would keep my self-control and not ask for revenge.
Come to think of it, I might ask the judge that the killer be given the best rehabilitation therapy possible. If he turned into a good person, some good would at least come out of this tragedy and that might just make me feel better. I doubt revenge would make me feel good anyway, but I may not realize it until I get revenge.