In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing a minor to life without the possibility of parole was cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling divided the court in a 5–4 decision, and Justice Samuel Alito read his dissenting opinion from the bench.
“What the majority is saying is that members of society must be exposed to the risk that these convicted murderers, if released from custody, will murder again,” Alito said, adding that the Supreme Court “has no license to impose our vision of the future on 300 million of our fellow citizens.”
His logic was clear: Once you are evil, you are always potentially evil. There is no redemption.
Alito’s fatalism is not shared by all those who work most closely with criminals and ex-criminals. Lettie Prell, the director of research for the Iowa Department of Corrections, deals with algorithms that analyze a criminal’s risk factors on two levels: static and dynamic. The static level looks at what the criminal has done — previous offenses, the nature of the crime, and how many victims. But the second level, Prell notes, is all about change: “The dynamic risk assessment is based on a criminal’s attitude and behavior and their hostility toward others, the ability to be responsive to advice, problem-solving skills … these are all factors that a person can change about themselves.”
[For more of this story, written by Lyz Lenz, go to https://psmag.com/the-wicked-b...4afd51117#.o4tlw3e1g]
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