Quote Originally Posted by thir View Post
But it won't do to forget that also innocent people are accused. There has to be rules to prevent that as much as is possible.
Absolutely. And one thing to protect against the conviction of innocent people is to minimize the effects of eyewitness testimony. Studies have show that this is the absolute worst kind of testimony, as far as accuracy is concerned, and yet it seems to have the greatest influence in trials. One of the advantages of having so much CCTV around is the ability to not only convict the guilty parties, but to protect the innocent.

And when he or she is out? I with Leo9 on this one, to protect society you also have to try to stop people from repeating their crimes.
I agree, too. But you don't do that by coddling them. You reward them for good behavior and punish them for bad behavior. If a prisoner wants to try to better himself, I'm all for it, provided his desire is real and not just a put-on for the system. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.

But how do you know which is which?
That's why they have experts. To know just that. And not just one person's opinion, but a consensus among professionals.