Well, there are several factors that we can consider to determine this such as the nature of the crime as well as the intention of the offence — why was the crime committed? In the case of the teenager mentioned, I do think he deserves a second chance because his intention was to save his poor family’s desperate condition and didn’t mean harm to anyone.
Sometimes, people are influenced by their families and friends to do something they’re not comfortable with or may have grown up in poor conditions that affect their judgment and choices in life. Not everyone is privileged to decide where and how their environment is. This itself sets the less privileged at a disadvantage as they’ve nowhere else to go.
In my opinion, if past offenders don’t or no longer display violent tendencies, show genuine remorse, or if they acted in self-defence, they definitely deserve a second chance, but this of course depends on the nature of their crimes. For instance, in the case of Cyntoia Brown, an American author who was sex-trafficked and was sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting a man in the act of self-defence and was, at that time, a minor, definitely deserves a second chance for the circumstances she was put in.
For petty crimes, like a teenager shoplifting from a store, trespassing, etc, I think these people do deserve a second chance if they’re willing to be rehabilitated and/or if they had a good reason for committing the offence. By giving these past offenders a new beginning, we help them to reconcile with society.
On the contrary, people like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Epstein definitely don’t deserve another chance and should be kept away from further inflicting harm on society.
