General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is it possible to get redemption after committing a heinous crime...? [View all]marions ghost
(19,841 posts)and early development. There are some people who are so defective mentally and emotionally (assuming you consider the inclination to annihilate others a defective mental construct)-- that they cannot be transformed. There is no capacity to be transformed. I don't think these people should be treated with the cruelty they inflicted on others, but it is far-fetched to hope for their turning around and dealing with what they have done in the same way that you or I would. Most of them kill themselves or have a fatalistic death wish. They hate others, they hate themselves, they hate life. Even if they live, they have no urge to atone--they don't really want our "redemption"--we can take it and shove it.
These criminals can be rehabbed to become functional and exhibit more appropriate behaviors. But you can't train a person to feel remorse, no matter how much lip service you give to it. Not saying all killers are this way--many do feel regret and can transform. But those who coldly plan & carry out massacres and bombings of innocents--these will not be in that category. Nothing to do with fate. To do with the reality of the truly sociopathic.
This article gets to the pathology of it:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/04/the_depressive_and_the_psychopath.html