Reply #22: Life Imprisonment

[MamaBear]

The difference between life imprisonment and execution is the difference between justice and vengeance.

If he can turn his life around and offer service to the community while imprisoned (as Williams has done, without question), all the better for society. If he cannot, then a dangerous person is safely segregated and will not be able to do more harm.

An imprisoned person may later be freed if proven innocent. (Think of all those people in Illinois who were exonerated through DNA evidence.)

When I think of the institutionalized racism in this country, my skin just crawls at the idea of putting somebody to death based on "evidence" presented by law enforcement. And killing an accused does not restore the lives of those he is accused of murdering.

I think the biggest mistake the American justice system ever made was the "victim impact statements." Justice isn't something you get. It's something you do. And revenge killing doesn't sound like justice to me.