Second Chances

Americans like to think of themselves as forgiving people, always willing to grant someone a second chance.  History demonstrates otherwise.  I could cite countless examples of second chances. Michael Vick, who by all accounts has relinquished his immaturity, is still condemned by many and will continue to be forever (of course, what he did was disgusting and reprehensible and I’m not trying to absolve him of guilt; that said, he did serve his time).  Yet many others have returned to their immoral ways upon receiving a second chance.

Herein lies the problem.  We must decide who deserves a second chance.  It seems harsh to count an isolated display of youthful immaturity against someone for the rest of his/her life.  On the other hand, however, we would probably consider some crimes irrevocable and inexcusable.  The problem with making these judgments is that we can only use the first mistake as the basis for our assessment.  It can be very hard to distinguish between an isolated incident that will not be repeated and a mistake that is indicative of a permanent character defect.  These factors lead to a deeper question: what should we consider in making the second chance determination?  Should we consider both the gravity of the mistake and the likelihood of further transgressions?  If so, in what proportions?

The answers to these questions have massive implications for our justice system.  Do we “play it safe” and assume that people will continue to err?  Or do we consider that these people may never commit the same offense again?  Take Jordan Belfort, the real-life subject of the new movie, The Wolf of Wall Street.  After frauding thousands of poor people out of millions of dollars, he only served 22 months in prison.  Now, he still profits off of his scam through books and motivational lectures.  Additionally, he has failed to give 50% of his income back to his investors as restitution. 

In the end, it all really comes back to questions of human nature.  Unfortunately, these are some of the hardest questions to answer.  Until we can predict the future, then, let the debate continue.