I generally favor much longer sentences, not sure about life. And for sure once someone has more than one conviction. The data back me up: most crime is done by a small number of people over and over. And, mass incarceration brings with it reduced crime rates.
I don’t really believe in rehabilitation. It’s entirely theoretical to me. You are either capable of punching a woman in her face for a handbag or you aren’t. You either see robbing houses as a life choice or you dont. You either want to film young kids in the shower or you don’t.
I do think people generally age out of certain types crimes. I could get behind some data that had age-based released dates.
The thing is I don’t give a shit about predators and criminals, I truly don’t. Mercy to them is all too often injustice to the innocent. They aren’t owed anything at all. If hear someone has a life sentence for his third robbery, it never crosses my mind to care about what he’s feeling. When I read that some guy traded kiddie porn on the internet and got 38 years in the federal pen (happened to someone I worked with briefly), I don’t even pause for a moment. I’m really glad he’s gone somewhere and I don’t have to think about what he might be up to.
That, to my mind, is the point of incarceration: stashing the predators somewhere far away. It’s not retributive. I just heavily bias my own safety and well-being far, far beyond the well-being of anyone who has demonstrably violated rje social contract.