That relies on the fundamental assumption that all criminals will reform their way after a few years in jail and therefore deserve a second chance. Most criminals should but I don&#x27;t think everyone agree that <i>all</i> criminals should. The alternative to the death penalty for the most dangerous criminals is to be able to lock them up forever or until such age that they cannot cause any more harm.<p>In that respect I see these short sentences for very serious crimes (multiple murders, etc) to be more dangerous than helpful.<p>Obviously it&#x27;s only a problem in countries where you have significant levels of violent crimes.